Opal Quest
by omasuoniwabanshi
Summary: Yusuke and the gang are sent to a tournament to win an ancient artifact, an opal, but why? Rated PG-13 for the fight scenes.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters. They are only being borrowed temporarily, and will hopefully not end up being too OOC on their brief outing.  
  
Personal Appeal: This is my first Yu Yu Hakusho fiction. Please read and review to let me know how I'm doing. There are so many great Yu Yu Hakusho authors out there (like Skitzophrenick, Frith, and all the others that I love) that it's a lot to live up to!  
  
CHAPTER 1: ENTERING THE TOURNAMENT  
  
"Yusuke, I'm sending you and your team to another tournament." Koenma sucked placidly on his pacifier and leaned forward on his paper bestrewn desk.  
  
"Oh man, we just got back from the Dark Tournament. When do I get a break?" Asked Yusuke.  
  
"Stop complaining." Koenma sat back in his chair and folded his hands over his toddler tummy. "This one's a small stakes tournament. It should be easy for you."  
  
"If it's so easy, why don't you go yourself?"  
  
"Because that's why I have spirit detectives like you." Answered Koenma complacently.  
  
"But why, if it's such an unimportant tournament, are you sending Yusuke when he's barely recovered from the Dark Tournament?" Botan interjected, eyebrows raised. "What's really going on?"  
  
"The tournament itself is not important." Said Koenma impatiently. "It's the prize. Some time ago an ancient treasure, a large opal, disappeared. Well someone's unearthed it and the tournament committee bought it to be the prize. It's said to have the power to cloud human minds."  
  
"But since most of the spirit world's portals to the human world are closely watched, why would a demon fighting team want to win such an opal if they don't have access to the human realm?"  
  
"Good question, Botan, but if Yusuke and his team win, we won't ever have to know."  
  
"My team? Why can't I just go alone? If it's as easy as you say, then I'll just bag the jewel and be back by lunch time."  
  
Koenma sighed. "Because it's a tournament, a team tournament with qualifying rounds and team to team battles. I told you it was a small stakes tournament. Tournaments like that are usually fought with every member of the team on the field fighting every member of the opposing team at the same time."  
  
Yusuke stuck his hands in his pockets. "I don't need any help."  
  
"Possibly not, but those are the tournament rules, and I had a hard enough time getting your team qualified and entered considering that the tournament has already started." Koenma sniffed. "Ogre! Where is my lunch? You were supposed to bring it an hour ago."  
  
A blue ogre popped his head in the door carrying a covered tray. "Here it is sir!" He set it carefully on the table, as Koenma tied a large napkin around his neck and prepared to dig in.  
  
"Wait a minute! You're telling me you entered me and my team in a tournament that already started?" Yusuke's voice raised an octave.  
  
Koenma looked up from his lunch. "Of course, and let me tell you, it wasn't easy getting you signed up for the final rounds. Only your recent victory at the Dark Tournament and my amazing powers of persuasion enabled me to pull it off."  
  
"He means he threatened to pull their tournament license." Muttered the Ogre.  
  
"What did you say?" Koenma turned a baleful glare toward the Ogre.  
  
"Er, nothing sir!"  
  
"I thought so." Koenma pulled his pacifier out and thrust his chin toward Yusuke and Botan. "What are you still doing here? Gather your team and get going. You haven't got all day. The last rounds start tomorrow."  
  
"Start where? You haven't told us where the tournament is held." Yusuke pointed out.  
  
"It's by a shrine near Tokyo a few hours drive outside of town. The shrine is a portal to the Spirit Realm. With Hiei and Kurama by your side you shouldn't have any problem getting through. That other human, however..."  
  
Yusuke slammed his fist on Koenma's desk, startling the Ogre, who sprang back. "Kuwabara is part of my team. I'm not leaving without him."  
  
Koenma sighed, unperturbed, and continued to eat his lunch. "Suit yourself. Just suit yourself somewhere else. You're interfering with my digestion." Ignoring Yusuke's scowl, Koenma popped a grape into his mouth and began chewing.  
  
"Come on, Yusuke," Botan plucked at the boy's sleeve and pulled him toward the door. "We have lots to do if we're going to get the team together and to the tournament by tomorrow. My oar will hold one other person, two at most, and Kurama's the only one of you with a car."  
  
"Rub it in why don't you?" Growled Yusuke, as he allowed himself to be pulled out of Koenma's office.  
  
The next day a small red sports car pulled up outside an abandoned looking shrine outside Tokyo. Its roof swayed lopsidedly over an untended, untrimmed garden of shrubs and weeds, and moss covered the broken roof tiles like an uneven green blanket.  
  
Kurama, a red headed boy with emerald green eyes got out of the driver's side and pulled his seat forward to let Yusuke spring out. Hiei, dressed head to toe in black with a white headband matching the shock of white in his spiky black hair, got out more slowly from the passenger side, leaving Kuwabara to push the other seat forward and climb clumsily out, unbending his long legs as he went.  
  
"Geez, what a dump!" Yusuke observed, glancing at the ruined shrine.  
  
"How come I had to sit in back instead of Hiei?" Complained Kuwabara, leaning over to stretch out his back. "I've got longer legs than he does."  
  
"Because you're a human, human." Growled Hiei.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Kuwabara bristled.  
  
"If you can't figure it out with your limited brain power, I'm not going to tell you." Hiei crossed his arms and glared.  
  
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Yusuke asked Kurama, who was gazing at the plants on either side of the shrine, head slightly cocked, as if listening to them.  
  
"Hmm. Botan's directions were very specific. In fact, you can ask her yourself."  
  
"Hello everyone!" The ferry-girl of the River Styx swooped down on her wooden paddle and came to a stop in front of the boys, slipping off her flying oar with the grace of long practice. Instead of her usual pink kimono, she wore jeans, a tee shirt, and a light jacket.  
  
"Geez, Aren't you afraid someone will see you flying around like that?" Asked Yusuke.  
  
Botan turned to look at him, swishing her long silver pony-tail. "Of course not, silly. Normal humans can't see me while I'm on my oar. "So where's Keiko? Did you have any trouble finding the shrine?"  
  
"Keiko had a test today, so she had to go to school." Yusuke offered.  
  
"But wouldn't that mean that you had a test today too?" Asked Botan.  
  
"Who cares? It's just a test." Yusuke yawned.  
  
"We had no trouble finding the shrine." Kurama answered Botan's second question, distracting her from the scolding she was about to give.  
  
"Well good, then let's be off." Botan marched smartly up to the side wall of the shrine, gestured briefly at what looked to be a blank wall, and then pressed on it, opening up a door shaped like a square. "Well, come on, we're late, so the second to last round has probably already started." She stepped aside and let Kurama and Yusuke enter first. Hiei, scowling, went next, leaving Kuwabara who stopped at the doorway which led to –not the inside of the dilapidated temple- but a grassy meadow with a coliseum style arena in the center. He glanced back at the car and the gardens, then through the portal.  
  
"Uhn! That always freaks me out."  
  
"Koenma said you'd be trouble. In you go!" Botan said, and shoved Kuwabara unceremoniously through the portal.  
  
"Hey! No pushing!" Kuwabara exclaimed as he stumbled on a clump of daisies.  
  
The group walked toward the coliseum, which reverberated with the usual demonic yells and catcalls of a spirit world tournament. As they drew closer, Botan covered her nose with her sleeve, and Kuwabara grimaced.  
  
"What's that smell?"  
  
As they rounded a small hillock, the answer became clear. Next to the coliseum's main entrance lay a pile of demon bodies. Hiei stopped and glanced at it dispassionately.  
  
"That's gross. Don't they have somewhere else to put those things?" Yusuke asked.  
  
"I believe those are the losers." Kurama observed.  
  
"I guess this really is a small time tournament." Said Botan. "The bigger ones have a body disposal service that gets rid of the bodies as they get killed instead of leaving them out until after the tournament's over."  
  
"How long has this thing been going on?" Kuwabara stared disgustedly at the pile.  
  
"Three days." Answered Botan, who walked quickly past the pile and joined Yusuke, Hiei, and Kurama, who were standing in the doorway of the main entrance, watching the end of battle being played out on the arena floor inside.  
  
"Hey, wait up!" Called Kuwabara, dragging his horrified eyes away from the body pile and running to catch up.  
  
Inside the Colisseum, the tail end of a battle raged on. A tall demon, dressed in skin tight black and purple, with the thin physique of a praying mantis was shredding his opponent across the far end of the arena while shrieks emanated from a thick fog like mist obscuring the center area. Closer to the entrance, a small feminine figure with a mass of shaggy brown hair opened a small bag and flung what looked like metallic bits in the air. As she gestured, the metal pieces flew through the air and sliced into a pair of twin rock demons opposing her and the massive demon at her side. The rock demons howled as their cuts began to bleed, which was when the larger demon strode forward, transforming his fists into huge, hammer shaped protuberances, which smashed the rock beasts to pieces.  
  
The shrieking from arena center cut off abruptly, and the mist dissipated, revealing a trollish figure dressed all in grey with masses of wrinkles sagging the skin of his withered face, standing over the body of his beaten foe.  
  
From the loudspeaker, the MC, a worried looking hairy demon attempted to bellow over the roar of the crowd. "And there you have it. The Mist Master's team wins again." The crowd noise heightened considerably as reptilian demons in white jackets lumbered onto the field, grabbing the bodies, and pieces of bodies of the losers and dragging them toward the entrance. Yusuke's team jumped to get out of the way, and walked to the arena edge.  
  
"Let's hear it for the Mist Master's team!" The hairy demon encouraged the crowd un-necessarily, as they were already screaming with typical demonic enthusiasm over the spilled blood. The Mist Master team gathered in the center of the arena. The grey one, obviously the leader, leaning on his staff and smiling ghoulishly, while the tall thin one and the large hammer handed one raised their fists in the air triumphantly. Only the smallest female one seemed unaffected by the victory, standing quietly with her head bent down so that her overly long, shaggy bangs obscured the top half of her face.  
  
"And look! Team Urameshi has arrived!" The hairy demon MC's voice took on a tone of relief as he pointed with one clawed finger at the group standing at the arena's edge. "Here they are, folks. Fresh from their victory at the Dark Tournament, ready and willing to challenge the Mist Master team to the final victory – the Opal of Obfuscation!" The MC gestured, and two black cloaked zombie like judges stepped onto the MC platform bearing a tray, in the middle of which lay a large round cabochon cut white stone which glowed from within.  
  
The crowd went wild again, shrieking their approval or rage, depending on which team they were rooting for, as Yusuke, Hiei, Kurama, Kuwabara, and Botan stepped into the ring. Yusuke moved next to Botan.  
  
"So that's it, huh?" He mouthed in her ear.  
  
Botan nodded, and glanced worriedly at Kuwabara, who was staring at the opal with a rapt expression.  
  
"It's so pretty. It's as big as a noodle bowl!" Kuwabara exclaimed wonderingly. Botan pinched him suddenly on the inner arm. "Ow!"  
  
"Don't look at it," She hissed. "It only affects humans."  
  
"Oh, right." Said Kuwabara, abashed.  
  
When the crowd noises died down a bit, the MC continued. "And now, a surprise announcement. The other judges and I have decided that in light of this last minute addition to our tournament, the rules have now changed. The remaining round will be fought in one-on-one hand to hand combat, and the team with the most members left standing at the end wins!"  
  
"Oh great," Muttered Yusuke. "ANOTHER fight to the death."  
  
The crowd, once again, went wild.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED... 


	2. The Tournament

Disclaimer: I don't own any Yu Yu Hakusho characters, I'm only borrowing them.  
  
Thank you to my one and only reviewer so far – Yavie Aelinel! I'm hoping to update frequently.  
  
CHAPTER 2: THE TOURNAMENT  
  
"The tournament rules don't necessarily state that the loser has to die, Yusuke," chided Botan softly as Team Urameshi stood at the arena entrance before a roaring crowd. "It's up to the winner to determine if he wants to deliver a coup de grace once his opponent is down."  
  
"Yeah, well if that pile of demon bodies outside is anything to go by, I still say it's another fight to the death. Hey, what's his problem?" Yusuke nodded to the Mist Master, who was standing in the middle of the arena accepting the crowd's ovation. The dwarfish grey humanoid figure was yelling and gesticulating at the judges' platform. One of the judges descended from the platform to confer with the irate troll.  
  
"Well, it looks like there's a little difference of opinion going on, so let's go find a nice place to regroup." Suggested Botan brightly, as she led the way over to some benches set up against the arena edge. Shrugging, Yusuke shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and followed, Kuwabara next with Kurama and a silent Hiei bringing up the rear.  
  
As the crowd noise died down, the hairy MC got back on the microphone as the black robed judge left the Mist Master team, which trailed back to the opposite side of the arena and settled on some benches there.  
  
"Sorry for the delay, folks. We had a challenge to the judges' decision, but our ruling stands. The last round will be fought in single hand-to- hand combat, and to start things off with a bang, we've decided to let the two team leaders duke it out first. So let's have the Mist Master himself, and Yusuke Urameshi to the center of the arena."  
  
Yusuke dropped his jacket on the ground and stepped confidently into the ring, pausing as Botan caught his sleeve. "Yusuke, wait! I haven't had a chance to brief you on your opponent."  
  
Yusuke pulled away. "No problem, Botan. The guy looks like E.T. How hard can it be?" He grinned and sprinted toward the center ring where the squat, bewrinkled demon waited.  
  
"Oh!" Botan stamped her foot. "Why won't he ever listen?"  
  
"Don't worry," Kuwabara consoled. "Yusuke's tough. He won't let some ugly little punk like that get the best of him."  
  
"Still," said Kurama, stepping forward to stand near Botan, eyes on the field, "It's always best to go into battle prepared. Wouldn't you agree, Hiei?" he asked politely.  
  
Hiei made a harrumphing noise that Kurama took as agreement.  
  
In the middle of the arena, Yusuke and the diminutive Mist Master squared off. The MC quickly recapped the rules (there weren't any besides he-who- pounds-his-opponent-into-the-ground-first-to-the-point-where-he-can't-get- up-anymore wins) and the fight began.  
  
Yusuke stood still, arrogantly waiting for the little troll to come to him. The Mist Master narrowed his eyes and began circling around, but Yusuke merely pivoted, so he was always facing his opponent. Then Yusuke, impatient, sprang forward with his fist. The troll parried as best he could with his wooden staff, but ended up being knocked backward. He jumped back to his feet and spat out a curse.  
  
"What did he say?" Asked Kuwabara.  
  
"He's cursing in Demonish," Kurama informed him. "It's a dialect used by the lowest form of demon."  
  
"Don't all demons speak Japanese?"  
  
"Ah, no." Kurama explained patiently. "Demons have their own languages just as humans do, but when they interact with humans they speak human language."  
  
Back in the ring, Yusuke attacked again, battering the troll until it rolled back intentionally and pointed its staff at Yusuke.  
  
"What're you gonna do, hit me with your stick?" Yelled the younger fighter derisively. That was when half the arena went grey as a thick, dirty mist poured out of the staff and enveloped Yusuke and his surroundings.  
  
"I was afraid of this." Sighed Botan.  
  
"What? Where'd Yusuke go?" Kuwabara squinted at the clouds where his friend had just been.  
  
"The files on this particular team are sketchy, but the Mist Master's tactics have been recorded. He likes to cover his fighting zone with mist then literally stab his opponent in the back."  
  
"With what?" Asked Kuwabara. "I didn't see any weapons on him except for that little stick of his."  
  
Botan shifted her weight uneasily. "That's just it, the records are unclear. No one's ever come out of the mist alive to tell the tale."  
  
"Yusuke'll make it out." Kuwabara asserted defiantly.  
  
Meanwhile, inside the mist, Yusuke was not as confident. "Oh man, I hate not being able to see." The watery air was like a live thing, billowing, constantly moving to keep him disoriented. There was a quick flash to the right, but as Yusuke pivoted to face it, it disappeared, and all the while an evil chuckling noise surrounded him.  
  
Unwilling to use up spirit gun bullets, Yusuke shifted this way and that, uneasily, until Slash! A blade, quivering with spirit energy, sliced by his side, narrowly missing his arm. Yusuke jumped, then jumped again as another blade slid through his sleeve and left a three inch long scratch along his bicep.  
  
'So that's it,' thought Yusuke. 'You slice your opponent down to size, slowly weakening him until you can get the drop on him. Well, that's not going to happen to me.' Pivoting quickly, he pointed his finger to where the last attack had occurred, and blasted away, but the chuckling, if anything, grew louder. He'd missed.  
  
The attacks came quicker then, more furious in their timing and depth of cuts. By the end of ten minutes Yusuke was beginning to think that the screams he'd heard from the Mist Master's last opponent had been ones of frustration. Though the cuts were annoying, they weren't fatal. It was the anticipation of more to come and not being able to see where they were coming from that made Yusuke want to scream too.  
  
Then came the near fatal stab that almost ended it. Yusuke decided to stand completely still, even when his instincts told him to move aside, hoping that he'd be able to get a bead on where the troll was. The knife got him in the lower back, along the bottom rib cage, and only a quick twisting away saved him as the knife quested for the soft tissue between the ribs.  
  
Yusuke clapped his hand to the wound and sat down. 'Any more like that and I'm done.' He couldn't believe after all he'd gone through in the dark tournament, that he was about to be beaten by a fog machine with a knife. 'Genkai would have my hide for this.' He thought to himself, remembering his trainer with the usual mixture of loss, admiration, and exasperation that the thought of her always created. His training time with her had been sheer torture, but it had worked.  
  
'Get up, you lazy moron' That's what she'd say. Yusuke forced himself to his feet, and thought about what she'd say next. 'Do something useful.' But what? 'Concentrate.' It was her favorite admonition. So that's what he did. Yusuke stood stalk still, shut his eyes, and reached out with his mind, and just like that, he found the troll. The little demon was creeping up from behind. Yusuke remained absolutely still, but when the troll lunged at his back he folded over at the waist, pointed his spirit gun, and shot, aiming upside down between his legs.  
  
The troll, an expression of disbelief, caught the spirit energy at point blank range right in the chest, and fell over, dead.  
  
Yusuke had just enough time to straighten up as the mist dissipated.  
  
"Yusuke!" Botan yelled, attracting his attention.  
  
Realizing that in the battle he'd ended up facing the opposing team's side of the arena, Yusuke turned toward her voice, but not before he'd seen the shock on the face of the two male demons left on the Mist Master's team. As for the small female, who could tell what she was feeling with those bangs coming down past her nose? Yusuke waved at Botan and jogged over to his teammates as the MC announced his win.  
  
"And Yusuke Urameshi wins! That's one point for Team Urameshi and zero points for the Mist Master's team."  
  
A cacophony of cheers, boos, and catcalls met this announcement.  
  
"Yusuke, you're hurt!" Exclaimed Botan.  
  
"It's nothing." Yusuke lied, every step of his jog sending splinters of pain through his back.  
  
"Even so, you should let Botan look at it," Kurama's green eyes missed nothing, and Yusuke nodded, reluctantly allowing Botan to lead him to a bench, scolding him.  
  
"You should have let me warn you about that one, Yusuke! The Mist Master team is known for its dirty tricks. They like to use team work to soften up their opponents with small cuts to tire them out, then they move in for the kill with either brute force or slashing."  
  
"Ah, leave him alone, Botan." Kuwabara addressed Yusuke next. "I knew you'd make it." He said, strutting up and down before the benches. "Team Urameshi always wins, because we're the roughest, toughest, bestest..."  
  
"They're calling your name, you idiot." Hiei observed sourly.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Last call for Kuwabara of Team Urameshi" The MC's voice bellowed. "It's Kuwabara verses Hammer Hands."  
  
Kuwabara whirled and ran out to the field. "Coming! I'm coming!" He stopped just before running into the mountain of muscle standing impassively in the center field. The demon was twice as tall as Kuwabara, who could have fit quite easily into one leg of his trousers. Over the trousers was a barrel of a chest barely covered by an animal skin vest, topped by a round head, shaved except for a small patch of lank pale hair, just enough for a rat tail of a pony tale hanging down to the demon's neck. Its eyes were small, close-set, and curiously expressionless.  
  
Kuwabara swallowed. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall, I always say." He joked, but the giant before him showed no reaction.  
  
"And now, let the fight begin. Remember, boys, the last one standing, wins!" The MC bellowed.  
  
Hammer Hands shifted his head, focused on Kuwabara, and transforming his hands into barrel-like masses of solid flesh, attempted to flatten him.  
  
Kuwabara leapt out of the way and drew his spirit sword. Pound! came down the hands, over and over, as Kuwabara kept retreating. He managed to land a few blows with the spirit sword, and even danced around the back of the demon to catch him on the rear, trying to enrage him into making a mistake, but the demon seemed incapable of rage or any other emotion. It was like trying to fight a factory machine that just kept pounding down with monotonous regularity.  
  
Eventually, Kuwabara grew tired. The spirit sword disappeared as one of the hammers of flesh caught him in the shoulder. He managed to last another few rounds, but eventually tripped and went down under a series of punishing blows.  
  
Botan gave a little shriek and clutched a worried Yusuke's arm while Kurama and Hiei watched silently.  
  
The massive demon raised a meaty fist high above his head, his pony tail lifting slightly in the breeze, and prepared to bring the hammer down on Kuwabara's unconscious form when he paused, as if distracted, and looked toward his team mates. The thin demon in black and purple gestured at him impatiently to finish it, while the girl stood impassive save for one finger twitching nervously at her side. As the demon hesitated, the MC came on the microphone.  
  
"And I'd say that's a definite win for the late Mist Master's team. That's one point for the Mist Masters and zero for Team Urameshi, bringing the score to a one to one tie. Let's hear it for the demon side!"  
  
As the crowd of demons screamed, shrieked, and growled their approval, the huge demon glanced around, distracted from his prey, and ambled back to his team.  
  
"That was curious." Muttered Kurama as Botan and Yusuke, his wound forgotten, ran out to drag Kuwabara back to their side.  
  
"You saw it too, then?" Hiei stood, arms crossed, next to Kurama.  
  
"Yes, though I'm not entirely sure what it means. Still, Kuwabara will live, and that should please Yusuke."  
  
"Hrmph." Was Hiei's only response.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED  
  
Please review! I'd especially like to know if the fight scenes sounded believable. Were the moves easy to picture? Was there too much detail or not enough? It's difficult to know how much detail/description to go into without losing the momentum of the action. I'd appreciate reader feedback on this! 


	3. Kurama vs the Wind Slasher

Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own any of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters – not even Puu, who won't be appearing in this chapter (I couldn't figure out how to fit in a snuggly blue penguin –Drat!)  
  
Thanks to my new reviewers – Yavie Aelinel and Raiko Gotal, for your encouragement, and Sakura-Angel-04 too. As for your question, the Chapter 3 title says it all.  
  
CHAPTER THREE: KURAMA VS. THE WIND SLASHER  
  
"Calling Kurama of Team Urameshi and Wind Slasher of the Mist Master Team to the field." The MC's voice, a little hoarse from bellowing over the crowd of mayhem hungry demons, shouted his announcement from where he stood atop the judges' platform.  
  
"It looks like I'm up." Said Kurama to Hiei, who nodded and watched him cross the field to the arena's center, pointedly ignoring Botan and Yusuke's concerned attempts at first aid on Kuwabara, lying on the ground behind him.  
  
As Kurama walked forward, so did his opponent, the small female. She walked slowly, hands at her sides, clutching intermittently at the strips of her skirt. It appeared to be designed along the lines of a Roman soldier's kilt – strips of leather that hung down to the knees, only instead of metal studs dotting the strips, her kilt had small cloth bags sewn to some of the ends of the strips.  
  
They stopped about four or five yards apart as the MC's voice droned out the rules once again. Kurama couldn't see his opponent's face very well, for she stood with her head bent slightly down, layers of bangs obscuring it. The MC stopped, and the match began.  
  
The girl immediately stepped back and raised her head. Wrenching a bag from off her skirt and flicking it open with her thumb, she waited. Kurama did not oblige, forcing her to make the first move. When it became clear that he wasn't going to leap at her she appeared uncertain, then waved her right hand in front of her and threw the contents of the bag in the air.  
  
Kurama leaped aside as shards of ragged glass rent the air where he'd just been. She was fast, but he was faster. For the first minutes of the fight he merely avoided her attacks. She seemed only to want to wound, and threw her projectiles wide in scatter shots. Then the thin black and purple garbed teammate shouted something at her in demonish. Kurama, busy ducking a double bag blast at the time, caught something about 'just another demon' and an admonition to finish the battle, followed by something spat out in a threatening tone.  
  
After that, the girl got serious, throwing masses of projectiles from different directions right at him. Kurama got serious as well, took out his rose whip, and went on the offensive. His first slash caused her to fall to her right. She rolled instinctively and missed the next as well. Her reflexes were good, but not great. He wondered how she'd survived for so long until his next slash was parried, not by a wall of projectiles, which the rose whip would have easily cut through, but a tornado force circle of wind that revolved about her. That was when he realized that she wasn't levitating the sharp particles she threw at him, she was controlling the air that sent them toward him.  
  
Eyes narrowed to green slits, Kurama began to concentrate, deciding on a tactic that would keep her on the offensive. She didn't seem to know how to use the wind alone except for defensive purposes, or as a vehicle for projectiles, so he plotted to deprive her of her offensive weapons. In a burst of furious slashes, he had her backing up, throwing bag after bag of deadly sharp projectiles into the air, until the time came when she reached for another, and found they were all gone.  
  
Kurama knew the exact moment when she made the discovery, because she froze for an instant. He took advantage of it. Curling the rose whip under her tornado-like defensive wall, he brought the tip of it behind her feet, then forward in a quick motion. She sensed it, and tried to jump as the whip came forward, but it caught the tip of her heel, and she gave a little shriek, and fell onto her back, arms lifted protectively over her face, and waited for the end.  
  
It should have come immediately. It was the perfect opening, but something about the shriek made Kurama pause. Even above the distracting roar of the crowd and enraged cursing of her teammate, the shriek had sounded almost human. Nonetheless, he had to do something, so he retracted the rose whip's thorns and sent it on another task.  
  
When the girl found her arms bound tightly together by its rope-like vine, she tugged slightly and raised her head, shaking her hair out of her eyes to watch as Kurama walked forward, slowly and deliberately coiling the excess whip in his hand as he came toward her. When he was closer, he tugged on the whip, pulling her immediately to her feet. The motion set her bangs shifting, and he realized that her eyes were blue. He realized something else as well, the closer her got to her. She wasn't a demon at all, but fully human.  
  
"Why did you signal Hammer Hands to stop?" Asked Kurama in Japanese. He'd seen the giant demon's pony tail lifting in the wind during the last match when the demon was about to smash Kuwabara. He'd also seen the girl's finger lifting, and made the connection that she'd signaled to her larger teammate.  
  
The girl, Wind Slasher, remained silent, merely staring at him resignedly over her bound hands. Kurama repeated the question in demonish, but her response was a mere shrug.  
  
The crowd noise heightened, they were growing restless at the lack of action. Kurama ignored them. The girl shook her hair back over her eyes and bowed her head.  
  
"Kill now?" She whispered quietly in demonish, the harsh gutturals sounding strange from her human throat.  
  
"Are you so eager to die, girl?" Kurama took a half step closer, wishing that he could see her face.  
  
"You win, must kill."  
  
"And if I chose to spare your life?"  
  
She shot a quick glance from under her bangs, then lowered her head again and shrugged in the direction of her teammates. "You not, they will. Better you. Quicker."  
  
"Hmm." This was indeed a quandary. The crowd, growing ever more agitated, was threatening to spill over into the arena. The choice was simple, in the end.  
  
Kurama stepped back, pulling on the rose whip, which fell from her arms as he dragged her forward a bit, unbalancing her. As he turned his back to go, he cracked the whip one last time in a casual, almost negligent slash, which caught her under the jaw and across the side of her neck.  
  
Gasping, she caught at the wound, blood seeping through her fingers, and collapsed in a heap, lying still.  
  
Kurama walked away without looking back.  
  
As he came closer to his teammates he saw that Kuwabara was awake and complaining loudly about cracked ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and a fractured forearm. Yusuke was staring at Kurama in shock while Hiei merely gazed impassively, arms crossed. Botan had paused in her dabbing of Kurama's various cuts, sterile pad in hand, frozen until he came close.  
  
"Kurama! You...I...that girl demon...you..." She began sputtering.  
  
"Knock it off, Botan." Growled Yusuke, rising from where he'd been crouching by his prone friend. "It's a tournament. Would you rather she'd killed him?" He turned away slightly, and muttered. "I'd never have guessed he'd kill a girl, though."  
  
"Hey, who got killed?" Kuwabara's question came out mushily between a swollen, bruised upper lip where Hammer Hands had connected.  
  
"My opponent." Kurama answered calmly.  
  
"Oh, good. Go Team Urameshi." Said Kuwabara, and fainted.  
  
"Idiot." Offered Hiei.  
  
"Calling Hiei and Razor to the field. Remember folks the score is Team Urameshi two points to the Mist Master Team's one point. If Mist Master Team wins this round the tournament will go into a final death fight off between the survivors. Let's hear it for the Mist Master Team." The MC bellowed hoarsely, not bothering to hide his bias.  
  
"Don't count on it." Muttered Hiei, throwing off his black, cloak like coat and flexing his sword arm. He unsheathed his shadow sword and stalked across the field to where his opponent, the thin, skeletal looking demon awaited him.  
  
Kurama turned his back on his team members, and watched the match progress.  
  
Hiei was in good form. His opponent's weapons were his own fingernails, razor tipped, presumably poisonous, and capable of elongating several feet in length. However, the 'Razor' was slow compared to Hiei, and didn't seem to know how to fight from a distance very well. He never so much as touched the small demon, who shot around the field like a cannonball. Quickly bored, Hiei dispatched the demon with a quick slice across its middle. It died without a sound, foul smelling blood spilling onto the field.  
  
Hiei stalked back to his teammates as the MC burbled with false enthusiasm. "That's it folks, Team Urameshi wins this beautiful opal. Thank you all for coming."  
  
Botan rose as Hiei reached the group, her first aid efforts complete. A woozy-looking Kuwabara swayed on his feet, an arm draped over Yusuke's shoulders, needing the support to stand.  
  
"Hiei, I..." Botan started to say.  
  
"Save it." Hiei growled.  
  
Botan's face fell.  
  
"If you'll excuse me for a moment?" Kurama glanced back and forth between the two, then headed for the arena entrance, throwing a parting shot over his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Hiei, that your opponent wasn't much of a challenge."  
  
Hiei huffed impatiently and swirled his coat back over his shoulders.  
  
"Is that what's put you in such a bad mood?" Asked Botan.  
  
"This tournament was a complete waste of my time."  
  
"Cheer up! It wasn't a total loss. We got what we came for. Look!" Botan, her natural good humor restored, pointed at the judges walking across the field with the opal on a tray. They stopped before the team, handed over the opal, and left as quickly as possible.  
  
"Well! They might have congratulated us. We did win, after all." Botan tucked the opal under her arm, and watched disapprovingly as the judges scurried across the field.  
  
"Humph. They're probably afraid the crowd will tear them limb from limb for letting the odds on favorites lose." Hiei noted contemptuously.  
  
"Look, we got the opal, now can we get out of here? Kuwabara weighs a ton." Yusuke shifted under the weight.  
  
"Who asked you for help?" Kuwabara responded blearily.  
  
"Oh stop it, you two." Botan chided absentmindedly. "Now where did Kurama go? Oh, there he is." She eyed him with bright curiosity as he came toward them. "Kurama, could you drive Yusuke and Kuwabara home? Hiei and I should take the opal to Koenma as soon as possible."  
  
Botan whipped out her wooden oar and perched on it one handedly, the other occupied with holding the opal. "Hop on, Hiei, you know you want to!"  
  
Hiei scowled, but sat on the back obediently as Botan took off.  
  
Kurama came alongside Kuwabara, and dipped under his other shoulder, careful not to jar his splinted forearm.  
  
"Hey, thanks." Yusuke began half walking, half dragging his injured friend toward the entrance. In no shape to talk, Kuwabara allowed himself to be dragged by the two boys. "Kurama, where'd you disappear to?"  
  
With only the slightest pause, Kurama replied, "To look for the rest of the Mist Master team. I thought perhaps if they'd been sent to the tournament to win the opal, they might try to steal it once the tournament was over."  
  
"What, you mean that big guy, the 'Hammer Hands'? Between you and me, it didn't look like he had much in the way of brains."  
  
"I'm sure you're right, but it never hurts to make certain."  
  
"So did you find him?" Yusuke asked curiously.  
  
"No, I'm afraid he's long gone."  
  
Later, in Koenma's office, the toddler stared at the opal in the center of his desk.  
  
"Botan, you're the best."  
  
"Why thank you, sir." Botan preened and smiled with pleasure. "I'm glad to serve."  
  
"Now if only we knew who sent that Mist Master team to win it." Koenma folded his hands and narrowed his eyes at the opal. "And why it's so important." He thought for a moment as Botan and Hiei waited quietly.  
  
"Botan!"  
  
"Yes, sir?"  
  
"Remind me what your research showed about the Mist Master team."  
  
Botan whipped a small notebook from out of her back pocket and flipped through the pages quickly. "Ah, here it is. The Mist Master team is comprised of the Mist Master, Hammer Hands, Razor, and the Wind Slasher. All of whom are now deceased except for Hammer Hands. Their tactics invariably include softening up their opponents through Wind Slasher's cuts, disorienting them with the Mist Master's mist, then dispatching them with a combination of Razor's poison cuts, Mist Master's back stabbing, and Hammer Hands' pulverizing technique. They are the odds on favorites in the small tournament circuits whenever they compete, but they usually only compete for money or prestige and money. This last tournament is the only one they've ever entered that did not offer a cash prize."  
  
"Hmm." Koenma sucked on his pacifier ferociously. "I don't like not knowing what's really going on. Botan. I want you to track down the last surviving member of that team and ask him who hired them to get the opal."  
  
"I'll go."  
  
Botan looked at the usually uncooperative Hiei in surprise.  
  
"Let me get this straight, Hiei. You're volunteering to help?" Koenma leaned forward on his desk.  
  
"Yes."  
  
Realizing that was all the answer he was going to get, Koenma wisely refrained from asking questions. "Fine. Report back as soon as you know anything. Botan, I want you to go along too." Koenma peered at Hiei to see how he'd take that order.  
  
"Sure!" Botan agreed cheerily, then glanced closely at Hiei. "But if you don't mind sir, I'd like to go home and get a good night's sleep first. The tournament was kind of exhausting. Plus I've got some of Kuwabara's blood on me, and I'd like to change clothes."  
  
Koenma waved at her dismissively. "Fine, go. I knew that human would be nothing but trouble, but there's no reasoning with Yusuke about it."  
  
"That's our Yusuke." Botan laughed and turned to exit as Koenma began bellowing for the Ogre to come and put the opal in the palace strong room.  
  
"I don't need to rest." Growled Hiei as he and the ferry girl left the room.  
  
Botan turned a wide-eyed innocent gaze on him. "I didn't think you did. That's not why I said I wanted to rest." She sighed dramatically. "The truth is, Hiei, there's a few things I'd like to check up on first. Koenma might think I have research facts at my fingertips, but really, to find out information, you have to go out and talk to your contacts, and it may take me a little while to get a lead on where this Hammer Hands could be. So unless you want to search up and down every inch of the spirit realm, I'm going to need a little time."  
  
"Hn." Was Hiei's only response.  
  
Taking that as agreement, Botan whipped out her oar and flew them back to the human world.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED  
  
Please review and let me know what you think so far. Any suggestions for improvement are much appreciated! 


	4. Aftermath

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho characters. If I did, Hiei would be taller!  
  
Thanks as always to my reviewers – goodness! You're an impatient lot. I'll try to get the next chapter up quicker than I did this one. Thanks to Caitlin for her enthusiasm, SakuraAngel04-I hope you'll approve of the direction this chapter's going, and thanks to YavieAelinel and RaikoGotal for reading my earlier chapters.  
  
CHAPTER FOUR: AFTERMATH  
  
It was late in the afternoon when Kurama pulled up to the ruined shrine. He'd had morning school then Juku, the intensive preparatory classes to get students ready for entrance exams, after lunch. His academic successes pleased his human mother, so he didn't mind the extra effort. It did, however, make him late for his rescue plan.  
  
Exiting from the car, he walked to the shrine's wall and opened the portal Botan had led them through the day before on the way to the tournament. He passed through it and made his way around the hill by the empty, silent coliseum's entrance.  
  
The girl was struggling to make her way out from under a heap of bodies. She'd managed to free her arms, torso, and one leg, and as he watched she pulled the other out from under the partial remains of a green skinned demon corpse. She slid down the heap of bodies and landed in the dust at the base, and brought herself shakily to her feet.  
  
Hesitantly, she brought her fingertips up to press gently against the red, crusted line at her neck. Kurama figured that it was probably quite sore still, despite the mild healing coagulant he'd devised along with the sedative he'd placed on the rose whip's thorn that had slashed the wound on her neck. She raised her head, peering dully at him from under her bangs, staggering away from the body pile, as he came toward her.  
  
Kurama stopped about five feet away, hands in his school uniform pockets, not wanting to frighten her.  
  
"What is your human name?" He asked in Japanese. There was no response, just as when he'd tried it before during the tournament, so he switched to demonish. "What is your name, human?"  
  
"Wind Slasher." Human throats not being designed for demonish, the words came out harshly. It was her fighter's name, not her real one, but Kurama let it pass.  
  
"I live, why so?" Her grasp of the grammar wasn't very good, indicating that she hadn't been raised speaking demonish, but had picked it up later.  
  
"I drugged you, so that you'd wake later. The drug simulates death, so it would appear to everyone that you'd died. I saw where they threw your body on the heap after our battle and I positioned you so that you'd be able to breathe. However, I hadn't counted on the laziness of the attendants. Evidently they threw more bodies from prior battles on top of you after I left. I'm sorry for that."  
  
Kurama waited for a response for his simplified speech of demonish, but the girl merely stared, eyes just shards of blue under the shaggy mass of hair obscuring her face. Her hand was still at her neck, and she swayed a little. He realized that the drugs weren't entirely out of her system. The question was, what to do with her? She didn't belong in the demon world, and could barely focus enough to form coherent sentences.  
  
"You'd best come with me." Kurama held out a hand and walked slowly toward her. She backed away, so he stopped. "It's alright. I won't kill you." He let his hand drop to his side. "Come." He said the word in command form demonish rather than suggestion form, turned his back and began walking to the portal.  
  
She followed, reinforcing his impression that she was used to obeying orders in demonish, not giving them. She barely reacted when she crossed over into the human realm. The sky was orange with sunset, and it was beginning to get dark.  
  
Kurama walked over to the passenger side of his car and opened the door. The girl hesitated, but got in, staying as far away from him as she could. When he got in the driver's seat, she leaned so far away from him that she was flush against the door.  
  
On the way back to Tokyo, he tried to find out what language she'd been raised in. French, English, Italian, Chinese, and Germen yielded no response, and he soon ran out of the basic phrases he knew in each of those languages. With no way to know where her home was, he couldn't simply take her there or drop her off at an embassy. It would have to be Keiko's home.  
  
However, when he pulled up to her building and rang the doorbell, his plans changed.  
  
"Another houseguest?!?" Keiko stuck her head out the door as she bounced a small, crying child on her hip. "I'm sorry, Kurama, but we're full up! My aunt's decided to leave my uncle and she brought all her kids with her. I'm on the couch as it is, and I think one more thing will send my mom around the bend."  
  
Thwarted, Kurama begged a change of clothes for the girl from Keiko, thanked the distracted brown-eyed girl, and left. His school was nearby so he drove up to the student parking area, picked the lock on the girls' locker room, and gently thrust the pile of clothing into the girl's hands, pushed her in and closed the door behind her.  
  
She came out three minutes later, Keiko's pink sweatshirt having left her hair even more mussed than before, and the jeans skirt barely covering the tips of the leather strips she still wore underneath. Kurama supposed he couldn't blame her for not wanting to give up her fighter costume. By the smell of it she must have worn it for several days solid during the tournament, so she must be fond of it. Still, he hoped his mother wouldn't notice anything wrong. As she turned her back to him to get into the car he saw that her wound was still bloody beneath the thick pony tail that hung down her back, nearly to her waist.  
  
He parked his car outside his apartment building, formulating his story as he went, and led the girl to his door.  
  
His mother was setting a bag of groceries on the kitchenette counter as he entered, politely allowing the girl to precede him.  
  
"Suichi, dear I've brought home some..." His mother, after calling him by the human name she'd given him at birth, trailed off distractedly as she noticed the girl who'd stopped in the hall and stared at the floor, head bent. "Who is this?"  
  
Kurama plunged into the story he'd made up. The girl, he called her "Wendy" since it was the closest foreign name he could think of that sounded anything like the first part of "Wind Slasher", was a foreign exchange student from Germany. His mother had never met anyone from Germany, so if she heard Wind Slasher speaking, he could only hope that she'd mistake demonish for German. He told his mother that the girl had been mugged at the airport, her purse stolen, the airline lost her luggage, and the Japanese family from his school that had agreed to take her was divorcing. He convinced his mother that he'd been asked by the principal to put her up for a few days until the school could find a suitable family to replace the one that had backed out unexpectedly.  
  
His mother's eyes grew soft with concern as she gazed at the silent girl. "Of course she can stay for a few days, Suichi, but where will we put her?"  
  
"I'll give her my room and sleep on the couch."  
  
"You must be tired." His mother came toward the girl who, Kurama was pleasantly surprised to see, did not flinch away. "Welcome to our home. Would you like a bath?"  
  
Amused at how his mother was handling her new guest's fragrance, Kurama came to stand beside her. "She doesn't speak any Japanese, mother, so we'll have to be creative." He touched the girl's shoulder and motioned for her to follow, leading her to the bathroom, and closing the door behind her as she went in.  
  
His mother went into her room, reappearing a minute later with a sleeping kimono. She knocked quietly, opened the bathroom door, and placed it on the floor inside. Kurama, unloading groceries, didn't look inside, but could hear pleased noises over the shower. The Wind Slasher was humming.  
  
"What a long flight she must have had." His mother's comment her only indication that the fighter reeked. Kurama learned tact and politeness from watching the woman who'd raised him. "And what interesting hair styles they have in Germany these days. It looks almost as if someone had grabbed handful of hair and hacked at them with a knife."  
  
"I didn't notice. Would you like me to chop the cucumber for the salad?"  
  
She smiled approvingly, and set to work making dinner, Kurama helping.  
  
The girl came out of the bathroom, clutching the kimono's neckline, just as they were putting the food on the table. She'd unbound her hair and blown it dry. It was a lighter shade of brown than he'd first thought, and the back of it was thick and fell like a waterfall down her back. The bangs were still a mass of uneven, overly long layers, and she continued to use them like a shield, keeping her head ducked as she came and sat at the table.  
  
She didn't seem to know how to use chopsticks, so Kurama demonstrated, placing his hand over hers and guiding her fingers to show how to capture morsels. She ate slowly, savoring each mouthful with the careful appreciation of one who hadn't eaten much in a while. Kurama had noticed that she was thin, but with well defined musculature from training. He'd assumed that her painfully small frame was natural, but he began to wonder if she'd been starved, especially when she became full very quickly and stopped eating to prevent herself from throwing up if she over indulged.  
  
"Thank you." She said quietly in demonish when the meal was done. His mother looked inquiringly at Kurama. "I believe that's German for 'thanks'" He translated smoothly.  
  
"You've been learning German in school?"  
  
"Just a few phrases here and there." Kurama assured her with false modesty. "I think that's why the principal asked me to put her up for a few nights."  
  
"Ah." His mother smiled and began clearing away the dishes.  
  
The girl fell asleep on the couch. In the end, Kurama's mother convinced him to leave her there rather than wake her to switch rooms. She was still sleeping when he left for school and his mother for work. Kurama told his mother that the school program she was joining would send a representative around later to check up on her. He wondered if she'd still be there when he returned.  
  
He must have been more distracted than he thought, for when Hiei appeared directly in front of his car while he was driving to school, he had to slam on the brakes with more force than usual. Sighing, he rolled down his driver side window as the diminutive demon strode around to talk to him.  
  
"Have you seen Botan?" Growled Hiei irritably.  
  
"No, and if there's nothing else, I'm running late for school."  
  
"I'd never let humans" (Hiei spat the word) "dictate my schedule."  
  
"You forget I've lived in a human body for the past 16 years." Kurama reminded him patiently.  
  
"Hn." Hiei left, taciturn as ever, and Kurama continued on to school, wondering what Hiei was up to with Botan. Since Hiei was rarely forthcoming, he'd have to wait and find out eventually.  
  
Hiei watched Kurama's sports car drive off, then strode into the park. As he reached one of his favorite clearings, he sensed Botan's presence near by. He stood, arms crossed, and waited for her to land.  
  
"Hello Hiei." The silver haired ferry girl was wearing her pink kimono, and slid off the wooden oar as she greeted him.  
  
"Hrmph." Hiei responded. Why waste words when sounds would do as well?  
  
"I've got a lead on our hammer fisted demon." She shared, and waited expectantly for him to respond.  
  
Hiei didn't.  
  
"Well? Don't you want to know how I found him?" Botan asked, obviously bursting to launch into a long explanation.  
  
"Not really." Said Hiei repressively.  
  
"Oh? Well, that's all right. I suppose we can't all be in good moods. I happen to be in a very good mood, and I won't let anything break it." She twirled her oar around and sat on it.  
  
"What else is new?" Muttered Hiei.  
  
"Did you say something?"  
  
"No."  
  
Botan rode the oar in a little half circle and skidded to a stop next to Hiei. "Hop on! You can hold onto me, you know. I might end up going very fast." She smiled mischievously.  
  
The day Hiei held onto a girl for safety, even a ferry girl to the spirit realm, was they day he'd hand back his sword and Jagan eye and take up knitting.  
  
"Hmph." He said, got on the back of the oar, and held it firmly on either side in a death grip that would take pliers to release. Botan laughed happily and flew them to the spirit realm.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED. 


	5. Strategy Meeting

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu Yu Hakusho characters.  
  
Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 4! SakuraAngel04- it's always great to hear from anyone who can figure out how to make their emails colorful and use picture/icons –I'm jealous! YavieAelinel – you'll be finding out more about the mysterious Wind Slasher in later chapters, I promise! My newest reviewer, Radiskull222 – Er, Chapter Black Saga? Is that the one that Cartoon Network never bothered to put on the air? They kind of left us hanging at the end of the Dark Tournament! So just think of this story as a bit of a time warp between the two. Caitlin, I'd love to email you again but your email box was completely full and not accepting any new emails the last time I tried!  
  
CHAPTER FIVE: STRATEGY MEETING  
  
"What a dump!" Botan kicked at the animal bones and bits of trash littering the floor of the cave deep in the forest of the spirit realm. "How can anyone, even a team of demon fighters, live like this?"  
  
"He's not here." Hiei planted himself in the middle of the cave and glared around at the rocky walls.  
  
"Well no," Botan admitted apologetically and waded through the garbage on the floor to get to him. "I never said it would be easy, but Hammer Hands was here once upon a time. According to all my sources, this cave is what the Mist Master Team called home when they weren't out fighting, so it's logical that he'd come back here sometime or other."  
  
She glanced around at the filthy bedrolls lining the walls and the charred bits of wood and other unidentifiable matter in the fire ring and sighed. "There must be something here that will tell us where Hammer Hands went. I guess I'll just start looking for clues." She walked over to a rock that was piled with what looked like magazines, and picked one up. A page unfolded from the center and Botan gasped as she caught sight of it, and dropped the magazine hurriedly.  
  
"That was NOT a clue!" She exclaimed in shock, turning pink.  
  
"Humph."  
  
Botan and Hiei searched the cave from top to bottom, but found nothing to indicate where Hammer Hands had ended up.  
  
"Well, that's that." The ferry girl picked up the pile of magazines and dropped them resolutely into the fire ring. "We may not have found Hammer Hands, but at least I managed to put something in its place." She kneeled, drew a match from her kimono pocket, struck it and set it to the edge of the magazines.  
  
"Arrgh! My pretty pictures!" A howl of rage from the cave entrance distracted her. Botan had just enough time to look up from where she knelt by the fire ring when a massive demon launched itself at her. She fell backwards, landing on her rear, pushing her feet into the sandy cave floor, trying to gain purchase to propel herself further away. It wasn't working.  
  
Smack! The huge demon fell face forward into the sand, mere inches away from the soles of her feet.  
  
"Hiei?" Botan queried shakily. The black garbed swordsman marched nonchalantly over the prone demon as if it were a hill, and stood on its back, surveying the red mark on the back of Hammer Hand's neck where he'd slammed the hilt end of his sword. If Botan hadn't known better, she'd have said the expression on her savior's face was decidedly smug.  
  
That afternoon, at Yusuke's apartment, Kuwabara began rummaging one- handedly through the kitchen cabinets, his splinted left arm in a sling.  
  
"Hey Yusuke, Got anything to eat around here?"  
  
"That depends on if my mom remembered to go shopping." Answered Yusuke, sitting on the floor watching T.V. The apartment was, as usual, a mess. Atsuko Urameshi was not known for her housekeeping skills.  
  
Kuwabara grumbled and ducked into a lower cabinet, emerging triumphantly with a dusty package. "Hey! Ramen noodles!" Kuwabara found a saucepan and began filling it with water.  
  
At that moment the doorbell rang.  
  
"S'open." Shouted Yusuke, refusing to get up.  
  
"We're here for the meeting." Trilled out Keiko as she entered, Botan and Hiei close on her heels.  
  
Botan strode into the apartment confidently. "Hello everyone! And thank you for coming to this meeting. I..." she looked around. "Where's Kurama?"  
  
Yusuke yawned and switched off the T.V. "He called and said he had to check on something after school and to start without him if it was a big deal."  
  
Keiko, eyeing Kuwabara watching the water in his pot come to a boil, walked into the kitchen.  
  
"Hey, Keiko." The tall red headed schoolboy greeted her, and tore open the package of Ramen noodles with his teeth, setting it on the counter.  
  
"Uh, Kuwabara?" Keiko leaned over the countertop inquiringly.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I think those noodles have bugs in them."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Some of them are definitely moving."  
  
Kuwabara bent to peer down at the larva wiggling among the dried noodles. "Ew! Gross! Yusuke, what are you trying to do to me?" He stepped back from the counter top, an expression of disgust clouding his face.  
  
Keiko shook the remaining noodles and bugs out of the package and inspected it. "The expiration date reads two years ago."  
  
Kuwabara switched off the stove. "I got an idea!" Ignoring Hiei's huff of disbelief, Kuwabara continued. "Let's have the meeting at my place. My sister's home. She can make us all something to eat." He offered the suggestion with a little brother's blithe certainty that his older sister lived to serve him.  
  
"We can't, lame brain. If we leave, Kurama won't know where to go for the meeting." Yusuke reminded him.  
  
"We could leave a note, you know." Kuwabara suggested.  
  
A speculative look crossed Botan's face, "No," she said. "A note might fall off the door. I'll go get him and bring him to Kuwabara's house. Hiei, you can fill them in on what we found out in the spirit realm."  
  
"Koenma sent us to find Hammer Hands. We did. He talked, but didn't help much." Hiei gave his account as succinctly as possible, and stopped.  
  
Almost out the door, Botan paused. "Now that's not entirely true!" She chided him. "He did tell us that a human hired them to enter the contest and win the opal. A human who spoke English too!" She sighed. "I just wish we'd been able to get a name from him before you rendered him incapable of continuing."  
  
"He annoyed me." Unaffected by Botan's chiding, Hiei lifted his chin and stared her down.  
  
Botan unaccountably blushed, so Keiko hopped in with a question. "Well, why not go back and ask him again?"  
  
Grateful for the question, the silver haired girl answered. "Sorry, Keiko, I meant he rendered him PERMANENTLY incapable of talking anymore."  
  
"What'd you do?" Asked Yusuke, showing interest for the first time.  
  
"Knocked his teeth down his throat. With my sword."  
  
Hiei's statement was met with a silence that Kuwabara broke. "Way to go, shrimp!"  
  
Hiei began to glower, so Botan put her hand on the door and said, "Well, this has been fun, but we can't officially start the meeting without Kurama, so I'll just go get him and bring him to Kuwabara's place." She exited quickly as Yusuke, grumbling, went to get his jacket.  
  
Kuwabara left Keiko to clean up the mess in the kitchen, and walked up to Hiei awkwardly. Hiei regarded him, eyes narrowed with suspicion.  
  
"Uh, Hiei. I'd just like to say...Thanks for killing Hammer Hands. He worked me over pretty good at the tournament, so thanks for getting him back."  
  
"I didn't do it for you."  
  
Kuwabara scratched his head. "Then why...?"  
  
"He attacked Botan. Why would I care what he did to you?"  
  
"Why you little..."  
  
Meanwhile at his apartment, Kurama returned home to find the place dusted, vacuumed, and shiny clean. With a quick mental check of the houseplants he learned that the Wind Slasher had even dusted and watered them too. For a demon fight team member, she was surprisingly domestic. Following the faint noises coming from his bedroom, he opened the door to find her sitting on the floor squinting in incomprehension at program on the small T.V. his mother had given him last birthday.  
  
As soon as she heard him, she jumped to her feet and stood, head down, waiting.  
  
"Have you eaten?" He asked her in demonish.  
  
"No."  
  
He'd just led her to the kitchen and was getting out ingredients when the doorbell rang. It was Botan.  
  
"Hello Kurama! Aren't you going to ask me in?" She asked when he didn't immediately move out of the doorway. She made as if to push past him, so he leaned an arm negligently across the opening.  
  
Undaunted, Botan peered over his shoulder. "Well, who do we have here?"  
  
Kurama sighed as the ferry girl caught sight of the Wind Slasher standing in the doorway of the kitchen, and ducked under his arm, making her way toward the girl.  
  
The girl bowed her head and took several steps backward as Botan bounced closer, until her back was literally up against the kitchen wall. Botan stopped about a foot from her, cocked her head to the side like an inquisitive sparrow, and began to pace in front of the girl, looking her over.  
  
"Ah-ha! I knew it! This is the girl from the tournament. I knew you couldn't kill her, and after I asked all the other ferry girls if they'd seen a soul like hers recently and they all said no, well, it was obvious, wasn't it?"  
  
Kurama resignedly shut the front door and followed Botan to the kitchen area. "As you say, obvious."  
  
"There's not much to you, is there?" Botan addressed the uncomprehending girl. "You're such a skinny little thing!" She reached forward and placed her forefinger under the girl's chin, gently lifting it until their eyes were level. "What's your name?"  
  
"She doesn't speak Japanese, or any other human language that I've been able to determine."  
  
Botan removed her finger and stared at Kurama in surprise. "Then how do you communicate?"  
  
"I can speak some of the dialect of demonish she knows, though not terribly well."  
  
"Well of course not, in your human form you couldn't, now could you? But whatever did you tell your mother?"  
  
"That she was a foreign exchange student named Wendy, from Germany."  
  
Botan stared, then burst into peals of laughter. "Kurama, you're priceless."  
  
"I'm glad you approve." Kurama lifted an eyebrow.  
  
"This is wonderful." Botan clapped her hands together and danced around the kitchen. "Koenma wants to know why someone hired her team to win the opal, and Hiei just killed Hammer Hands, so the only one left to ask is her. We have to take her to the meeting!"  
  
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Botan in the throes of a good idea was a difficult thing to quash, but Kurama had to try.  
  
"What?" Eyes wide with innocent enthusiasm regarded him.  
  
"She can barely speak demonish, and Hiei just killed her only remaining team member. She may not want to help us."  
  
"Whyever not?" Botan was irrepressible. "Besides," she grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her gently out of the kitchen. "I've got a really good feeling about her, and I'm an excellent judge of character." Botan continued on her way to the front door, not letting go of the girl, who shot a questioning gaze over her shoulder at Kurama, as she stumbled along behind Botan. He smiled reassuringly and allowed the bubbly Botan to take her out.  
  
Quickly jotting down a note to his mother about taking "Wendy" to a fictitious exchange student meeting, he locked the door and followed them out to where Botan was waiting expectantly by his car, girl in tow.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	6. Hiei Interrogates

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters. If I did, Puu the blue penguin would be mine!  
  
Thanks to my reviewers for reading chapter five – Yavie Aelinel for your encouragement, SakuraAngel04 you're a darling, and Raiko Gotal – I know, I know, Botan's hair IS officially blue, but I just can't write that down because it makes me think of those little old ladies years back who used to use a blue rinse solution on their grey hair to make it look more white. And in the earlier episodes of Yu Yu Hakusho, Botan's hair does have a more silvery tint to it, so I decided to go with the word "silver" to describe her hair.  
  
CHAPTER SIX: HIEI INTERROGATES  
  
At Kuwabara's house, Shizuru handed around a tray of snacks while Team Urameshi sat on the floor of Kuwabara's room, cramming in around the Wind Slasher, their former foe.  
  
The girl sat on her knees in the center of the room, head bowed, hands clasped in her lap. She shook her head when Shizuru offered her the tray.  
  
"I think Hiei should question her." Offered Botan. "He knows demonish really well."  
  
"Yeah, but he killed the last demon he questioned." Yusuke objected.  
  
"Yeah, what about that?" A still-miffed Kuwabara seconded.  
  
Hiei sniffed.  
  
"Well, yes, that's true, but there will be no killing of anyone this time." Temporarily side tracked, Botan lost her momentum. "After all, if Kurama saved her life, it would be silly to take it now, especially since she isn't fighting us anymore and..."  
  
Kurama broke in. "I have no objection to Hiei conducting the interrogation."  
  
"Then that's settled. Hiei?" Botan smiled encouragingly.  
  
Hiei uncrossed his legs and got off the bed where he'd been perched and dropped to a seat before the silent girl. He asked questions in demonish, while Kurama translated both questions and answers for those who didn't understand.  
  
Hiei: "Who hired your team to enter the tournament?"  
  
Wind Slasher: "I don't know."  
  
Hiei: "Why not?"  
  
Wind Slasher: "They not tell me."  
  
Hiei: "Did you see the man who hired your team?"  
  
Wind Slasher: "No. Mist Master goes, comes back. Says job."  
  
Hiei: "How much did he pay you?"  
  
Wind Slasher: "Don't know. I don't get paid."  
  
Hiei: In Japanese. "She's useless."  
  
"Perhaps you could read her mind?" Suggested Kurama.  
  
Hiei grunted. "Pointless. She doesn't think in either demonish or Japanese."  
  
"So what language does she think in?" Asked Keiko interestedly.  
  
"How would I know? Human languages don't interest me." Hiei got up and returned to his perch on the bed, to distance himself from the group.  
  
"Well, this isn't exactly going as I'd planned." Botan sounded depressed. "But it's not a total loss." She gazed at the silent girl speculatively. "Shizuro, you know how to cut hair, don't you?"  
  
"I've cut my own and my friends' hair for years." Kuwabara's lanky big sister said, leaning on the doorframe of her brother's room.  
  
"A makeover!" Keiko smiled.  
  
Botan jumped to her feet. "It's just the thing to get our minds off our problems." She grabbed Wind Slasher's hands from out of her lap and used them to propel her to her feet and down the hall to the bathroom, an amused Shizuru and Keiko following.  
  
While they were gone, Hiei and Kurama conferred quietly as Yusuke and Kuwabara took turns defeating each other on computer games.  
  
"Ta Da!" Twenty minutes later, the Wind Slasher was shoved into the room by a beaming Botan.  
  
"Wow." Kuwabara's mouth hung open.  
  
"What do you think?" Asked Botan, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders and turning her around in a circle. Wind Slasher's bangs were still layered, but now the longest ends merely brushed her eyebrows. Other layers framed her face, accentuating cheekbones and a delicate neck. The back was still longish, but now reached only to just below her shoulders. Her facial features, revealed, were enhanced by subtle tones of eye-shadow, blush, and mascara. She was, in a word, pretty. However, her gaze was still resolutely focused on the floor, though Botan was not allowing her to slump.  
  
"She looks OK." For Yusuke, that was an emphatic stamp of approval.  
  
"Hiei?" Botan asked.  
  
"She's fine for a human." He replied gruffly.  
  
Eyes sparkling, she turned next to Kurama. "What do you think?"  
  
"She's lovely." Kurama said simply.  
  
Botan agreed to go tell Koenma about the lack of progress in the case. Shizuru gave Kurama a bundle of clothes for Wind Slasher to borrow, and the meeting adjourned.  
  
Days passed. Each morning Kurama left the girl alone in the apartment. From what the house-plants told him, she spent most of the time cleaning, or staring at the T.V. or whatever textbooks he left in his room. After school Kurama tried to ask her about her human parents or her real home, but she was evasive, or pretended that she didn't understand the questions, so he didn't push her. In the evenings she helped his mother with dinner. His mother had warmed up to the girl, and was teaching her how to cook Japanese dishes.  
  
On Friday, Kurama got a call from Keiko. Botan was calling an emergency meeting at Yusuke's house. He arrived with Wind Slasher just as Botan flew in on her oar.  
  
"The opal..." Botan paused dramatically. "Has been stolen."  
  
"You're kidding!" Kuwabara said. "I thought Koenma had it."  
  
"He did, he stored it in his strong room, but now its gone. Koenma thinks it's an inside job, and he's assigned you, Yusuke, to find out who stole it, and bring it back. And you know what that means."  
  
"Oh man, more work? Why can't Koenma leave me alone?" Yusuke whined. "Ow!" Keiko rapped him smartly on the head.  
  
"You're a spirit detective, Yusuke. Who else is Koenma going to call on to solve a crime?"  
  
"I'll go." Kuwabara was quick to volunteer. "I'm the toughest kid at Sarayashiki Junior High. Burglers don't scare me."  
  
"Thank you, Kuwabara." Botan looked around. "Hiei, Kurama?"  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Just let me drop off my house guest."  
  
"Oh no, Koenma wants her to come too."  
  
Kuwabara conceded with a nod.  
  
Team Urameshi and Wind Slasher traveled by a nearby portal to Koenma's palace, leaving Keiko behind to go to a student council meeting she had to lead. The only sticky moment was when the girl had to step through the portal. She balked, stopping dead on the threshold, until Kurama stepped through, turned, and held out his hand.  
  
"Come." He used suggestion form of the demonish command, and after a second, she reached out, took his hand and stepped through.  
  
The palace was in an uproar, and Koenma was in a foul mood.  
  
"Yusuke! Get me that Opal and get it back now!" Koenma sucked on his pacifier angrily. "I've got one dead Ogre guard, I don't know who to trust, and I don't like feeling that way!" After a bit more ranting, Koenma gave them the background. The theft had occurred during a break period when one of the two guards was off getting dinner. Only someone familiar with palace routine would have known that.  
  
The dead guard had been shot right outside the strong room door. Since guns were primarily a human, rather than demon weapon, they decided to split up and ask around the portals to see if any humans had used them recently.  
  
The team scattered, to cover more area, then met back at the palace.  
  
Kuwabara arrived last. "I got it! I found a demon who saw someone like me using a portal."  
  
"You mean tall and stupid-looking?" Asked Hiei.  
  
"Shut up, shorty! I've had about enough of you." Kuwabara curled his hands into fists and glowered over the black-garbed fighter, who looked decidedly unimpressed. "I don't see you finding anything useful."  
  
After separating Hiei and Kuwabara, the team crossed through the portal Kuwabara had identified as the one the burgler went through.  
  
They came out in an alley beside a large, seedy hotel. The other side of the alley was a department store closed for the evening. Since the department store was a dead end, they decided to check out the hotel. Kuwabara went up to the concierge desk and began questioning the man, who was slovenly dressed, and reading a newspaper when they entered.  
  
"Hey Mr.," Kuwabara addressed the clerk. "Have you seen my uh...uncle? He's tall, like me, only with blonde hair and no freckles."  
  
The clerk looked bored and turned a page of his newspaper. "Our hotel prides itself on the privacy of its guests."  
  
"So what does that mean?"  
  
Putting his newspaper down, the clerk leaned over the counter. "It means we VALUE their privacy and they PAY to be sure we don't rat them out."  
  
Yusuke strode up beside Kuwabara. "Listen, I don't got all day. Tell us where the guy is."  
  
Smirking contemptuously, the clerk went back to his newspaper until Kurama tipped some yen over his newspaper so the money fell into his lap. That got his attention. He rolled his eyes, but set the paper down and snatched up the money. "OK. The guy you want left with his friend about half an hour ago. They were on their way to the airport. They said something about catching a flight to Germany."  
  
The group left and conferred outside the hotel.  
  
"Germany?" Botan asked reflectively. "If the burgler was headed for Germany, why not just take a portal directly from the spirit realm? There are lots of them."  
  
"Perhaps he needed to come back for his companion." Kurama suggested.  
  
"Whatever. Let's just go to the airport, get the opal, and get out of here." Easily bored, Yusuke began walking to the nearby taxi stand, where two taxis were waiting. They all piled into the first one and went to the airport.  
  
"Now, all we have to do is find a tall blonde foreigner who's traveling with another foreigner, and grab the opal from him." Botan said brightly, then, looking around the airport terminal her face fell. The airport was huge, and foreign tourists were everywhere. "Oh dear, this isn't going to be as easy as I thought."  
  
"So let's get moving already."  
  
"But where, Yusuke? There are several flights leaving for Europe at different gates." Botan looked around, discouraged. "And we don't have a very good description of the man we're looking for."  
  
"Hey!" Interjected Kuwabara. "It worked fine for that guy at the hotel. Besides," he placed his hands on his hips and lifted his chin. "It'd be easier to just find the opal, and my gut's telling me it's that way." He jerked his chin toward a corridor leading to some bathrooms, phones, and a janitorial area.  
  
"Please. Are we going to listen to this buffoon's gut?" Hiei asked.  
  
"Well, he is human, and he was particularly susceptible to the opal during the tournament. There may be something in what he says." Ever the peacemaker, Kurama attempted to placate Hiei, who merely harrumphed. Wind Slasher pulled nervously on her bangs and watched the interplay between the two.  
  
"If Kuwabara says it's over there, then I'm going over there." Yusuke strode over to the corridor, leaving the others no choice but to follow behind.  
  
"Yusuke, shouldn't we come up with a plan?" Botan asked, hurrying after him.  
  
"Listen shrimp," Kuwabara admonished Hiei loudly. "I know what I'm talking about." He smirked. "I'm just sensitive that way." Hiei stalked on, ignoring him.  
  
"Come." Kuwabara suggested to Wind Slasher, who dropped her hand from her hair and followed along obediently.  
  
They reached the corridor just as a janitor left his cart by the entrance and went off, pulling a carton of cigarettes from his pocket. Dodging around it, they started down the hall, Kurama pulling the cart further across the entrance behind them to discourage passers by from looking.  
  
Yusuke reached the end of the corridor where bathroom doorways, separated by an old, sand filled ash receptacle were set into the wall.  
  
"So, Kuwabara, which one?" Yusuke nodded toward the doors.  
  
"The boys' room, of course. But you can't go in there!"  
  
Yusuke looked at him. "Why not?"  
  
"Because! He might be...busy!" Kuwabara gestured toward the door. "You can't fight a guy when he's in the bathroom. That's just wrong."  
  
At that moment, the bathroom door opened, the doorway framing a tall, blonde, foreign man with cold grey eyes, carrying a briefcase that bulged slightly in the middle.  
  
The minute he saw them, blocking his escape, he spat out an epithet. His hand moved to under his arm and he pulled out a gun, pointing it at Yusuke.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
If you like the story so far, please read and review! 


	7. Secret of the Wind Slasher

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Yu Yu Hakusho characters.  
  
Thanks to those who reviewed chapter 6 – SakuraAngel04, I updated as you requested, and I hope I didn't make you wait too long, I know that last chapter ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. YavieAelinel, I know, I'm mean to end the last chapter that way, but at least I updated quickly! RaikoGotal, I'm glad you liked it, but I do have a question. Who is "Sheadrin"? For anyone who wanted to know more about Wind Slasher, this chapter's for you!  
  
CHAPTER 7: THE SECRET OF THE WIND SLASHER  
  
In the corridor of the airport terminal, Team Urameshi and the girl known only as the Wind Slasher, faced off against the man with the gun.  
  
"Get out of my way." Said the man, in English, pointing the gun at Yusuke, the obvious leader of the group.  
  
"He's speaking English. He's the one we want, alright." Commented Botan. "But he must be crazy bringing a gun to the airport with all the metal detectors they have around here."  
  
"The gun's made of hardened plastic, I believe." Kurama told her.  
  
Yusuke glared at the man, addressing him in Japanese. "Think that scares me?" He lifted his finger, and pointed it at the man, grinning. "I've got one of my own."  
  
The man took a step sideways out of the bathroom doorway. "You'll just step aside and let me pass if you know what's good for you." He continued to speak in English.  
  
Yusuke just grinned more and the tip of his finger started glowing. "So what'd he say?" He asked Botan, his eyes never leaving his opponent, who started at the sight of spirit energy coming from the boy's fingertip.  
  
"Don't they teach English at Sarayashiki Junior High?" Asked Kurama interestedly.  
  
"Well sure," Yusuke answered. "But who listens?"  
  
"He said to let him go." Kuwabara translated roughly. Hiei, Kurama, Botan, and even Yusuke glanced at him in shock.  
  
"What? I like English class. The teacher's real pretty." Kuwabara defended himself.  
  
While their attention was momentarily on Kuwabara, the man kicked over the ash can, sending sand all over the floor, and when the team looked back, distracted, he dropped the brief case, leapt over the can, grabbed Wind Stalker by the hair and pulled her to his chest facing front, placing his gun at her temple.  
  
She grimaced as he pulled harder on her hair and ground the gun barrel into her skin.  
  
"Now, here's how it's going to work." He said in English, eyes narrowed to slits. "I'm walking down this corridor, with this briefcase." Keeping the gun at the girl's head, he bent and picked it up by the handle, "When I get to the end, I throw her back. I'll be waiting outside the corridor 10 minutes. If any of you pokes your nose out, I'll blow it off."  
  
Yusuke grimaced. "I don't know what he said, but I don't like it." He let his hand drop.  
  
Hiei tensed, but subsided when Kurama, eyes on the hostage, whispered, "Wait."  
  
The man began edging his way along the wall, briefcase in front of Wind Slasher's chest, restraining her. She went placidly, motionless save for one finger, held down at her side, moving in a circular motion. As he moved, little eddies of sand began revolving on the floor at his feet. Not noticing, he continued.  
  
Suddenly, the sand on the floor flew up. The girl closed her eyes, but the man caught the blast full in his face and eyes. Swearing, he dropped the briefcase, which flew open, scattering papers and the opal, which crashed to the floor.  
  
As he lifted his hands to his eyes, Wind Slasher slipped out of his grip and dropped to the floor. Yusuke stepped forward, catching the man under the chin with a right hook, then pivoted and kicked the gun out of his hand.  
  
Roaring with pain and anger, the man put his head down and tried to charge into Yusuke's stomach, but the boy easily stepped aside, and brought his fists down on the man's back right on his kidneys, felling him.  
  
Used to watching Yusuke make short work of his opponents, the rest of the team merely stepped back and waited until he was done with the man, who lay groaning face down on the floor. As soon as the fight was finished, Botan stepped over the prone body and knelt among the open briefcase and scattered papers by Wind Slasher who had stayed in her crouched position to watch the fight.  
  
"Ah, here it is." Botan pushed aside some papers and held the opal aloft, then brought it closer to her face, inspecting it. "Oh dear."  
  
"What?" Asked Kuwabara, eyes raptly on the opal.  
  
"It's been broken." She turned it around to show where a wedge shaped portion was missing. "Koenma is not going to be pleased."  
  
"Hey, he's getting his opal back, so he's got nothing to complain about." Said Yusuke, eyeing the downed man complacently.  
  
Wind Slasher, staring down at the papers from the briefcase, reached out tentatively and began picking them up one at a time and stacking them.  
  
Noticing, Kurama touched her shoulder so she'd look at him, and when he had her attention, offered her his hand to help her get up.  
  
She looked back at the papers in her hands that she'd been sorting through.  
  
"Leave them, they're not important." He told her in demonish.  
  
Reluctantly, she let them drop, and placed her hand in his, allowing him to pull her to her feet.  
  
Yusuke was also pulling someone to his feet, and shoving him against the wall. The blonde man sagged, glaring. "You kids have no idea what you're dealing with here." He said in English.  
  
Yusuke looked pointedly at Kurama, who patiently translated.  
  
"Yeah, well, you're gonna tell us exactly what we're dealing with." He told the man. Kurama once again translated.  
  
"Perhaps it would be better if Kurama led the interrogation this time, Yusuke." Botan suggested.  
  
"What, so you don't want the shrimp to do it this time?" Asked Kuwabara, jealous that he wasn't being asked.  
  
"I don't do English." Hiei sniffed. "Learning one human language is bad enough."  
  
Kurama smiled. "I'd be happy to."  
  
He was just coming forward when an odd "pop" sound rang out. The blonde man clutched his chest, whispered something in English, and fell to the ground, blood oozing between his fingers.  
  
"What the...?" Yusuke stepped aside to avoid being squashed by the man.  
  
Kurama pivoted, brushed past Wind Slasher, who was staring at the open end of the corridor, and ran to the entrance, shoving the janitor's cart aside. Hiei joined him immediately as he stopped, gazing into the crowd in the terminal.  
  
"Did you see him?"  
  
"No." Answered Hiei succinctly.  
  
Yusuke was quick to arrive. "Hey, who shot that guy?"  
  
"Presumably the companion the hotel clerk mentioned." Kurama said. "However, we didn't get a description of him, and no one looks particularly guilty."  
  
"What's one human among many?" Harumphed Hiei. "This is a waste of time."  
  
Abandoning the investigation, they trooped back to where Botan, Kuwabara, and the girl were standing over the body.  
  
"Let's get out of here." Kuwabara said, eyeing the spreading blood pool in disgust. Wind Slasher ignored him, staring down at the paper-strewn floor.  
  
"I agree." Botan was clutching the damaged opal to her chest. "There's no sense in you boys getting involved with a murder investigation. I'll take the opal to Koenma, and we'll meet at Yusuke's house tomorrow after school."  
  
The team split up, taking buses, taxis, or in the perennially broke Yusuke's case, walking home.  
  
The next day Kurama opened the door to his apartment and noticed immediately the empty feel to it. A quick check of the houseplants informed him that the girl was missing, and had been gone some time. On the table lay a letter, addressed to him. It was written in English.  
  
Dear Kurama,  
  
When things have been bad for a very long time, and something good happens, you can't believe it. You don't dare react to it in case it disappears.  
  
When you rescued me from the demon realm, I didn't know why. I didn't trust it. I didn't trust you, even when I was sure you wouldn't hurt me. I'm sorry for that. I know now that I was wrong not to tell you everything you wanted to know.  
  
The truth is, I didn't want you to know about my past, because it isn't pretty.  
  
My real name is Sara Carmody. I was born in England and lived there most of my life. My father was hired right out of university by a multinational corporation called Sen-dex. You've probably never heard of it, but it has offices all over Europe, and some in China. Dad was killed in a car accident while on a business trip to China when I was ten years old. He'd worked his way up and was a Senior Manager with lots of stock options when he died. My mother was very sad and lonely. Within a year she married my dad's boss.  
  
I never liked him. We tolerated each other and I concentrated on doing well in school and staying out of his way. Then mom got cancer when I was thirteen. She went to hospital and fell into a coma. That's when things went really wrong. My Grandfather, my dad's father, had always told me I was special, even more so than my dad. I should probably tell you that Grandfather was a geneticist who'd left England to do experiments in China. I think that's why my Grandmother divorced him and moved back to England with my dad. I only saw Grandfather once or twice a year, before he died, but I remembered what he told me, even though I didn't understand it, at least not then.  
  
One night, my stepfather came into my room. Mother had been in a coma for three months. He was drunk. He tried to force himself on me. That's when I realized what Grandfather meant, because I used the air around me to pick up a lamp and smash it against his head.  
  
It didn't kill him, but he stopped. It made him angry though. Angry enough to tell me he'd arranged the accident that killed my father, just so he could get to me. I knew I'd had more doctor visits than usual since he'd married my mum, but I'd just thought stepfather was a health nut. Actually, the checkups were to see if the genetic alterations done to my father by my Grandfather had passed on to me.  
  
Sen-dex learned that my Grandfather had done experiments on his own pregnant wife to try to make her baby a superior human. They wanted his secrets, but knew my father would never allow it. So they killed him.  
  
Stepfather took me to the corporate headquarters that night, and that's when he and his colleague decided to sell me to a team of demon fighters, to "hone my skills." Stepfather told me that if I came back from the Spirit Realm, or tried to run away, that he'd make sure my mother never came out of her coma.  
  
I felt like my life was over. I was thirteen. I became the Mist Master's battle slave. He trained me to cut opponents using shards of glass or steel, and if I didn't learn fast enough, he'd beat me, or starve me. I learned to do without food, keep my head down, and try to not be noticed. Being noticed meant being hit, if not by Mist Master, then by one of the others. If any of my team-mates failed in battle, Mist Master would cut them, and if he was really angry, he'd kill them. I spent five years in the Spirit Realm, until you saved me.  
  
I pretended I didn't know English when you asked, because I knew you'd send me back home, and if that happened, Stepfather would kill my mother. It was stupid to think that she'd survive five years in a coma. When you were out at school one day, I took the spare change I found under the couch, went to a hotel, and asked the clerk to ring up the English embassy on the phone for me.  
  
I told them I'd run away to Japan on a ship years ago, and that I wanted to come home, but would they find out if my family was still alive? The next day I went to the embassy and filled out the forms I needed to get a passport. My mother is dead. Ironically, so is my stepfather. He died a week after he sent me to the Spirit Realm, and evidently he never bothered to change his will, so I inherited his stock in Sen-dex, and my mothers' which she inherited from father.  
  
The reason why I'm telling you all this, is that I recognized the logo on the papers that fell out of that man's briefcase at the airport. They were papers from Sen-dex. Some were from the German office, but others were in English. I didn't have time to read much, but I read enough to know that Sen-dex is up to something involving demons and that opal. I'm going home to investigate. With the amount of stock I own, and now that I'm 18, I shouldn't have much trouble getting a job with the company. Only my stepfather and one other vice president were involved in selling me to the demons, and judging by the way they spoke, it doesn't seem likely they'll have told anyone else at the company what they did.  
  
It may take a long time for me to find out anything, but if I do, I will write to you. I took an envelope your mother threw away that has your address on it. Since Sen-dex doesn't have the opal anymore, and isn't likely to get it back again, they may give up on whatever plan they had. I may never see you again, or have anything to write to you about. I...Thank you for your kindness.  
Sincerely,  
Sara  
  
Kurama set the letter down on the table. Before she'd thanked him, she'd started to write something and had changed her mind, and crossed it out. There were also uneven spots on the paper, as though she'd let water drops, or tears fall on it. Kurama folded the paper carefully, and went to his room to hide it behind the picture of his human father. Then he went to the meeting to tell the others about Sara.  
  
On his way out, the plants queried him about her. 'She's not coming back' he communicated to them. They rustled disappointedly and subsided. Their disappointment oddly resonating within him, Kurama walked out of the empty apartment and shut the door behind him.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...?  
  
The story could very easily end here. The opal is back in the spirit realm, the mystery of Sara (a. k. a. Wind Slasher)'s origins has been solved, and the case of the missing opal is closed. I have an idea for a sort of epilogue chapter, a continuation of the adventure, but I'd like to know if I should bother. Any opinions? Please let me know by reviewing! 


	8. England

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho, characters or plot.  
  
CHAPTER 8: ENGLAND  
  
"Tell me again why I'm wasting my summer vacation going to England?" Yusuke picked up his backpack and hefted the strap onto his shoulder.  
  
"Don't you have any spirit of adventure?" Asked Keiko, holding her own pink and slightly bulging at the seams backpack against her chest. "England has an interesting history. You might actually learn something."  
  
Team Urameshi plus Keiko stood outside a bookstore that was just closing up for the evening. Each had a backpack with a few changes of clothes, plus toothbrush and other necessities.  
  
"Keiko's right!" Botan trilled. "Just think, this time you'll be fighting demons in a whole other country. Won't that be a nice change of pace?" Botan's luggage, an orange duffel bag that matched the tee shirt she wore over her jeans, lay at her feet.  
  
"Our opponents could turn out to be mere humans this time." Pointed out Kurama politely. "Sen-dex is, after all, a human run corporation." Kurama's backpack was basic black, and lay next to Kuwabara's khaki green duffel bag. Hiei scorned backpacks, and had no luggage.  
  
Hiei muttered something darkly about humans in general as Kuwabara groused, "I miss Yukina already. How long do we have to be gone?"  
  
The team fell silent as the bookstore owner came outside, locked the door with his key, and left down the street.  
  
"Well, I guess this is it." Botan said, as she picked up her duffel bag and led the group around the side of the shop to a little alleyway. The bookstore had a large window that looked out on the alleyway. Botan stood against it, and faced the blank brick wall of the building next door. With a quick gesture, she opened the portal in the brick edifice, and stepped through.  
  
The team exited into an alley almost identical to the one they'd left. A drizzly rain was falling, and the air seemed lighter, less humid than the summer haze they'd left behind in Tokyo. Traffic noises came from the mouth of the alley, as cars and buses whizzed by.  
  
"So where is this Sen-dex place?" Yusuke asked, glancing around the alley.  
  
"It's in a place called Oxford." Said Botan. "Koenma said that their corporate headquarters are there, so that's the best place to start looking."  
  
"How do we get to Oxford?" Keiko was looking a little concerned.  
  
"The train, of course! With our baggage we'll look just like students on vacation. I'm sure we'll blend in just fine." Botan tossed her silvery ponytail, settled her duffel bag strap more comfortably on her shoulder and made for the mouth of the alley. "Let's go."  
  
Kuwabara glanced at Hiei's short, black encased form, with his headband and spiky black hair, opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, closed it and followed along with the rest of the group.  
  
After several wrong turns, and consulting Kurama's map of London, which he'd downloaded off the Internet before they left, they made it to Victoria Station. Kurama was unanimously voted to be the one to buy their train tickets, which he did, and efficiently guided them to the correct platform to board the train.  
  
Kurama managed to get them seats in the same section, so they were able to discuss their plans in Japanese without worrying about anyone overhearing or understanding their conversation.  
  
"I can't believe anyone would be dumb enough to try to steal the opal from Koenma again! What kind of a loser would do that?" Kuwabara asked rhetorically.  
  
"I don't know, but I do know I've never seen Koenma quite so angry before." Botan shivered at the thought of those beady little toddler eyes, which had practically drilled holes in the report of the attempted theft on his desk when she'd been called into his office. "Even though the ogres chased the demon away before he could get to the strong room, he got pretty far before they stopped him. That's what made Koenma decide to re-open the case."  
  
"Why not send someone else? I was just getting used to the idea of having a break." Yusuke complained.  
  
Kuwabara broke in. "I don't mind so much. This trip will give me lots of things to tell Yukina when I get back." A big goofy grin plastered itself to his face. "She said she'd miss me when I was gone."  
  
Hiei crossed his arms and glowered at Kuwabara, who didn't notice.  
  
"Do you think we'll see Wind Slasher, I mean Sara, again?" Piped in Keiko, after giving Yusuke an exasperated look.  
  
"I don't see why not." Botan reassured her. "After all, Kurama said she mentioned getting a job at Sen-dex in her letter. Did you happen to bring it with you?" She turned an inquisitive gaze on the red haired fighter.  
  
"Ah, no. I'm afraid I left it in Tokyo." Said Kurama smoothly.  
  
After that the team settled in for the train ride, Kurama quietly reading a book, Kuwabara listening to a cd, Botan and Keiko excitedly watching the landscape outside the window, trying to guess if they were passing any monuments or castles, Yusuke sleeping, and Hiei, as always, enduring his human company by ignoring them as much as possible.  
  
The train arrived and the group piled out on the platform. Botan led the way to their small, anonymous hotel, and they agreed to meet in the morning for breakfast.  
  
Over stale croissants, toast, and fruit –the only food offered since breakfast was included in the price of the room and the hotel was too cheap to spring for a free cooked breakfast- Team Urameshi planned their strategy.  
  
Yusuke: "I saw we go in, and beat the truth out of them."  
  
Keiko: "Yusuke! You're in a foreign country. How would that look?"  
  
Botan: "Koenma wanted this done quietly, Yusuke. I don't think charging in is quite what he had in mind. He just wants to know who is trying to get the opal and why, so he can stop them."  
  
Kurama: "I agree with Botan. Since Sen-dex is ostensibly a legitimate corporation, I doubt its daytime employees would know much. Perhaps if we waited until the offices were closed and then had a look around, we'd be more likely to find something incriminating. What do you think, Hiei?"  
  
Hiei: "The less humans the better."  
  
Kuwabara: "What's that supposed to mean? Hey, were you looking at me when you said that?!"  
  
In the end, they decided to go with Kurama's plan, so they spent the day as they chose. Botan and Keiko went sight seeing. Kurama and Hiei walked the mile outside of town and cased the perimeter of the Sen-dex complex, and Yusuke and Kuwabara found the one activity that transcended language barriers among boys -the video arcade.  
  
At midnight the team assembled in a field just off the parking lot, and lay bellies down on the grass, watching the last two cars in the V.I.P. lot drive away.  
  
"Man, how can anyone stay this late at a job?" Yusuke complained when the headlights passed them.  
  
"Maybe they love their work. It is possible to find a job that you love to do." Keiko informed him.  
  
Kuwabara peered at the building nearest the next lot over, a steep walled concrete block construction with large, heavy metal pull down doors set into it. "I think they were up to no good." He opined. "Hey, are those security cameras?" He pointed to small boxes positioned on the corners of the buildings.  
  
"Yes, Kuwabara." Kurama said approvingly, fixing his green eyes on the lanky human. "But you needn't worry about them. Hiei and I "adjusted" them when we were here earlier." He took a small black box out of his pocket and pressed a button. "As of now, the cameras will only show an empty parking lot. Shall we go?"  
  
"That's so cool!" Kuwabara exclaimed, and set off toward the parking lot.  
  
"I knew I picked the right man for the job!" Botan smiled perkily and hurried after Hiei who was muttering something about Kuwabara being easily impressed. Keiko dropped a smile and ran after Botan, while Yusuke lagged behind.  
  
"You know a lot about security systems." He stated.  
  
Kurama glanced at him. "I was, after all, a thief in the spirit realm. Once can't help but pick up old habits when the need arises."  
  
"Believe me, I'm not complaining." Yusuke plunged ahead, then stopped dead, and dropped back to the ground with the rest of the group as Hiei hissed and motioned at them to hide.  
  
From around the corner of the building, someone dressed in black slacks, sweatshirt, and knitted cap came forward, glanced around, and stuck what looked like a credit card in the wall near the metal pull-down door of the loading bay. The door groaned, and raised itself automatically.  
  
As the figure stepped back to watch it go up, Kurama got up and walked over, ignoring the frantic hisses of Botan. The black clad person turned and threw their hands up, outstretched.  
  
The grass of the field where the rest of the team were lying began to sway, whipped by a sudden wind. Kurama's mane of red hair swirled about his face, light from the parking lot lamps catching its ruby tones. Then, as suddenly as it began, the wind stopped as the figure dropped its hands, and waited placidly for Kurama.  
  
"It's all right," he called over his shoulder, continuing to walk forward. "It's Sara."  
  
"Who?" Asked Kuwabara, scratching his head.  
  
"Wind Slasher, you fool!" Hiei informed him scathingly.  
  
The team got to their feet and rushed forward to where Sara stood, gazing in shock at Kurama.  
  
Everyone started talking at once, until Botan managed to get them all quiet enough for Kurama to question Sara in English, and translate the information for Yusuke, Hiei, and Botan. Keiko and (surprisingly) Kuwabara, were able to understand the gist of the conversation without translation.  
  
Sara had been working at Sen-dex under the name of Ashley Morris as a secretary to one of the Vice Presidents. The Vice President who'd helped her stepfather sell her to the demons was now working in the corporate office in Germany, so he wasn't around to recognize her. She'd befriended the security guards by bringing them tea, and going on Starbucks' coffee runs for them on her lunch breaks. She'd also researched the "restricted access only" architectural plans of the Sen-dex headquarters and found there was a very large sub-basement under the three legitimate basement floors of the loading bay part of the compound. The loading bay couldn't be seen by most of the Sen-dex windows, and was oddly placed facing the V.I.P. parking lot, so she'd decided to stay late that night, put sedatives in the guards' coffee, and, using a key card stolen from an executive's desk, search the loading bay. That's when she'd seen Kurama.  
  
"Well, your timing was perfect." Botan smiled at Sara, allowing Kurama to translate her words. "Now we can all go together."  
  
Sara nodded, and they trooped up a concrete ramp, through the opening, and into the cavernous warehouse building.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED 


	9. Battle in the Basement

Disclaimer: I do not own the Yu Yu Hakusho characters or plot.  
  
Note to reviewers: Thanks for all your support. I doubt I'd have finished this if not for you. SakuraAngel04, this update is for you, I'm dedicating it to your brother –I hope you like the ending. Raiko Gotal, thanks for telling me who Sheadrin was, I look forward to seeing her in your fanfic! Chibi and Chan, compliments are ALWAYS welcome, thanks for the review. Yavie Aelinel, no official pairing or mushy stuff, I promise –though I do hint that some characters may like each other a little...  
  
CHAPTER 9: BATTLE IN THE BASEMENT  
  
Team Urameshi followed Sara into the bowels of Sen-dex. She led the way between boxes of office supplies and crated laboratory equipment to a far wall.  
  
There, a large freight elevator, dimly lighted by a few dim bulbs high up in the ceiling, gaped open.  
  
Sara began to step into it, but Kurama reached out and grabbed her by the arm. "You don't have to do this." He told her. "Hiei, and the rest of us can handle whatever's down there. You've been through more than enough."  
  
The girl partly turned to look at him, and her knitted cap crept down, obscuring her eyes. She raised her non-restricted arm, and pulled the cap off. The back of her hair was pulled back in a low pony tail, but the front hung in layers around a face that had filled out healthily, so that she no longer looked like a starving waif.  
  
"I want to go. Sen-dex cost my father his life. I have to know for certain if my suspicions are correct."  
  
Kurama looked deep into her eyes, completely ignoring Team Urameshi, who were all watching the interplay with the intensity of soap opera addicts engrossed in a Friday afternoon plot cliffhanger, except for Hiei who pointedly turned his back.  
  
Never one to go in for overly emotional displays, Kurama merely nodded after a moment, and released her. She stepped into the elevator and waited for the others, who piled in quickly. Sara stuck her key card in an aperture, and hit the lowest numbered button on the panel. Unfortunately, the elevator insisted on stopping at all three legitimate basement floors before heading to the secret sublevel. On the way down, Kuwabara decided to break what was looking to be an uncomfortable silence.  
  
"So, what suspicions?" He asked Sara, who paused, mentally deciphering Kuwabara's heavy accent, then answered.  
  
"Sen-dex is a biotech firm. It's known for genetic engineering of things like food animals. While other firms were trying to clone exact replicas, Sen-dex was trying to merge genes to create chickens with more white meat, plants that could grow more sheaves of wheat, or cows with extra udders which could produce more milk."  
  
"Ew, that's disgusting." Kuwabara grimaced.  
  
"And did they succeed?" Asked Keiko interestedly.  
  
"Who cares?" Yusuke slouched against the elevator wall, but couldn't quite hide the expression of fascinated repugnance on his face.  
  
"They had better luck with the plants than the animals." Sara looked down at her knitted cap, which she was twisting nervously in her hands. "At least that's what the published reports say. But I think they've discontinued animal research because they found stronger, more genetically resilient subject." She raised her eyes. "I think they've begun to experiments with merging human and demon DNA." She said quietly.  
  
"Hybrids? Half human and half demon?" Kurama's eyes narrowed. "That would explain why they were so willing to give you away to the demon realm. If they'd decided to stop altering pre-existing human genes to make improved humans, and just graft demon genes onto human embryos..."  
  
"You're kidding, right?" Kuwabara began to look a little sick.  
  
"Actually, there are stories of humans and demons..." started Botan brightly, then glanced at Keiko, coughed, and subsided.  
  
"What stories?" asked Keiko, as the elevator came to a stop with a grinding bump.  
  
Botan, pink-cheeked, crowded her way to the front. "Here we are!" She exclaimed and left the elevator like a shot as soon as the doors opened. Unfortunately, she managed to charge right into a large, surprised-looking, security guard in a navy blue Sen-dex uniform.  
  
In a blur of black, Hiei rushed past the others, and slammed the hilt of his Katana style sword into the guard's temple. Twice. The guard sank to the floor, unconscious.  
  
They dragged him into the elevator and allowed the doors to close behind him. "There's worse." Sara whispered as they started down a long corridor. "According to the shipping manifests I've seen, Sen-dex has been buying lots of chemical solutions for its age inducing and retarding experiments, way more than they'd need for experiments. I think they're for cloning tanks. The big research going on right now is for incubator tanks, so when a baby is born prematurely, hospitals can stick them into tanks that simulate their mother's wombs so they can continue to develop at a natural pace, and be taken out at what would have been the mother's expected delivery date. It's all supposedly experimental, but..."  
  
"Not anymore it's not." Hiei, who'd moved more quickly than the others, had stopped up ahead by a treated glass window set in the concrete wall of the corridor.  
  
Keiko gasped when she and Botan came close enough to look down through the window at the laboratory below. The others crowded around and saw large glass tubes, lining either side of the lab, in which floated bodies. Despite the distortion of the fluid, the bodies looked inordinately tall and bulky for humans. They definitely had a pattern of scales on their exposed bodies, yet the scales' color was undeniably the pale pink of human flesh.  
  
"Like we don't already have enough full-blooded demon invasions into the human realm!" Yusuke complained. "Now we have to fight off these guys too? I want a raise!"  
  
"You don't get paid." Botan reminded him absently.  
  
Sara placed her fingertips on the window. "I was right." She breathed, then stepped back, moving closer to Kurama.  
  
Kurama gazed down impassively at the forty tubes of hybrid demons. "That solves one mystery, yet the main one remains. Why do they need the opal?"  
  
"Because it's pretty?" Asked Kuwabara. Hiei snorted derisively. Kuwabara glared and towered over him. "Hey, I think it's pretty, and they must too because I sense some of it here."  
  
The others looked at him. "What?" Asked Kuwabara. "Can't you feel it too? It's coming from right over there." He pointed through the window to the far end of the laboratory where a doorway was set into the wall. As the team craned in to look, Kurama noticed a lighted room with huge panels of windows and lots of equipment set into the wall opposite the door, suspended over the lab by girders, with a metal staircase leading up to it from the laboratory floor.  
  
"Botan did notice a piece of the opal was missing earlier." Stated Kurama reflectively. He touched Sara on the shoulder. "Do you think you could backtrack down this corridor and find a way into that control room?" He asked, nodding toward the windowed room below, suspended above the laboratory.  
  
"What exactly are you planning, Kurama?" Botan turned and asked, her ever- inquisitive eyes locked onto the two standing close together.  
  
"Forget the control room! Let's go get the little bit of opal!" Kuwabara suggested enthusiastically.  
  
"Fool." Hiei glared at the lanky red head. "Would you like to leave those abominations free to ravish your world?"  
  
"Hey! What did you just call me?"  
  
"A fool."  
  
"Save the attitude!" Yusuke stepped between a red-faced glaring Kuwabara and an icily calm Hiei. "They're gonna need it, aren't they, Kurama?"  
  
"As always, Yusuke, you read my mind." Kurama gave an approving half smile to the belligerent boy.  
  
"Well, I wish someone would tell ME what's going on." Botan placed her hands on her hips and looked from Yusuke to Kurama.  
  
Kurama gestured to the door at the end of the laboratory. "Kuwabara senses the opal piece in there. That area feeds off the lab. If you'll notice, the bodies in the tubes are in varying stages of development, the more developed ones being closest to that door. It appears that once they are fully grown, they are taken out that door, which means that the ones which have already hatched, as it were, are located through there."  
  
Yusuke's face creased in an anticipatory smile. "So what say we go in and take the opal shard from them? Then maybe we can teach them that it's not nice to steal."  
  
Kurama nodded. "Quite so, however, I thought that the ladies would be of more use finding a way to destroy the clones in the lab from the control room while we take care of the ones which have hatched."  
  
"Sounds good."  
  
"Fine by me, so long as there's less yapping and more fighting."  
  
"Hn."  
  
The men of the group nodded agreement, and set off down the corridor in search of a stairway leading to the hidden room, while Keiko and Botan followed Sara, key card in hand, in the opposite direction.  
  
A short while later, Yusuke led Kuwabara, Kurama, and Hiei through a door and down some stairs to an anteroom with an abandoned desk. Just as Kuwabara was starting to say that no one was there, a burly looking security guard in a Sen-dex uniform, wiping his hands on a paper towel, stepped out of one of two doors leading off the anteroom and stopped in surprise.  
  
The team wasn't given much warning, for the guard growled, and charged in the same instant, knocking Kuwabara off his feet, and sending Kurama and Hiei leaping instinctively out of the way. Yusuke stayed where he was, and jabbed the guard on the side of the head, connecting solidly with his ear as he flew by.  
  
Yusuke expected the guard to react to the punch, or at least to Kuwabara who, even though pinned to the floor by the guard, was raining punches on either side of his head. The guard merely reared back and raised his fist.  
  
That was when Yusuke realized something was wrong, pointed his finger, and sent a blast of spirit energy right into the guard's torso. That felled him, and he slid off Kuwabara, into a heap on the ground.  
  
Kuwabara sat up and glared at Hiei, who stood completely at ease, arms crossed. "Gee, thanks a lot for all the help." He complained.  
  
"You're welcome." Yusuke distracted the bruised redhead by answering the comment, even though it wasn't directed at him.  
  
Meanwhile, Kurama was crouched by the body. Shoving it over onto its back, he reached out and grasped a small, white pin with the Sen-dex logo engraved around a sparkling circle of white. Fisting his hand, he yanked. As soon as the pin came off, the security guard changed.  
  
The average looking middle-aged face's features coarsened. The teeth elongated to fangs, fingernails became claws, and all over, the skin raised itself into scale shaped disks of hardened flesh.  
  
Kurama turned to his astonished teammates, and showed them the pin in his hand. "This is why they need the opal. The opal clouds human minds. They've somehow programmed it to camouflage their hybrid demons to blend in to the human world. By placing the opal shards on devises like these, they could hide an entire army of hybrids."  
  
Yusuke's eyes narrowed. "From now on, anyone we see is a hybrid, and we fight them just the same as we would any demon. Got it?" He looked at each of his team, registering their nods of acceptance. "Then let's go." He strode over to the second of the two doors in the wall, and threw it open wide, then stopped dead on the threshold.  
  
Before him was a room resembling an army barracks filled to the brim with hybrids. A few wore civilian style suits with the Send-dex logo pin on their lapels. They looked human, but the rest wore army fatigues, and as eighty pairs of red tinged demonic eyes looked up, and registered the intruders into their domain, Yusuke sighed.  
  
"I really need a raise."  
  
After that there wasn't time to speak or think, just react. Yusuke quickly lost track of the others as a wave of hybrid soldiers surged forward. Dropping shot after shot of his spirit gun, he twisted, turned, and jumped for his life. Yusuke was used to fighting one on one, and keeping track of ten opponents at a time was getting real old real fast. But he couldn't afford to worry about how many more there were, he had to concentrate on dropping the ones right in front of him.  
  
At times he caught glimpses of Kurama's rose whip, or a black blur of motion that was Hiei. He heard Kuwabara's continuous bellows, and saw flashes of the teenager's spirit sword.  
  
Somehow, they made it all the way across the room and ended with their backs to the wall, opposite of where they'd started. Though fully half the hybrids were down, dead or wounded, the other half were growling for blood and standing between them and the exit to the stairs. They'd been herded, which showed a certain cunning intelligence and teamwork on the part of their opponents. For the first time, Yusuke began to doubt that they'd all get out of this alive. At that moment, the door behind them flew open.  
  
"Did you close the door behind you?" Sara hurtled into the midst of their group and grabbed Kurama's arm. Startled, he nodded, questions in his eyes. She leaned forward and whispered something to him, then rushed in front of him to face the hordes of demon hybrids, who appeared just as startled as Team Urameshi that she was there.  
  
"We must go." Kurama grabbed Yusuke and Kuwabara by the arms (correctly identifying the most difficult and obstreperous of his teammates) and pulled them back toward the lab. Hiei merely lowered his sword, turned and stalked into the lab, but Yusuke immediately protested.  
  
"What are you doing? Get your..." He trailed off when Kurama nodded at Kuwabara, who was reeling, off balanced not only by Kurama's tugging on his arm, but also because he had a cut streaming blood on his cheek, his chest was heaving with exhaustion, and he was limping. From the corner of his eye, Yusuke noticed that Hiei's clothes were torn in several places where hybrid claws had tried to shred him. Even the normally unflappable Kurama's hair was matted to his forehead with sweat. Yusuke gave in and allowed himself to be dragged backward, but only to just over the laboratory threshold. When Kurama slammed the lab's double doors shut behind them, Yusuke pressed his nose to the window set in the door.  
  
Wind Slasher was standing in front of the doors on the other side. Her hands were lifted toward the ceiling, she was standing on tiptoes, and even her hair, pony tail and bangs where lifting heavenward. Meanwhile, the hybrids in front of her weren't attacking.  
  
Instead, they were clutching at their throats and mouths, pawing the air, and falling to the ground. The ones nearest Sara were turning blue.  
  
"What the...?"  
  
Kurama came to stand beside Yusuke, peering through the window set in the second of the double doors. "She's taking the air out of the room, at least the lower part, and concentrating it in the area above, near the ceiling."  
  
Yusuke wrenched his gaze away from the window and stared at Kurama in shock. "She can do that?"  
  
Kurama nodded absently, his eyes never leaving the window. "Evidently." He watched impassively for a moment, then added. "The question is, did she know that she could do it before now?"  
  
Yusuke stared at Kurama, then broke into a laugh. "You mean she didn't know she could, she just marched into a room full of demon hybrids and GUESSED?"  
  
"I assume so. According to Botan's files, Sara has never attempted anything like this before in all the tournaments she's fought in."  
  
Yusuke gave another short laugh before turning back to look out the window. "I think I like this girl."  
  
"As do I." Kurama said reflectively, then repeated it so softly that Yusuke wasn't sure he even heard it. "As do I."  
  
A few moments later the laboratory doors opened, and an exhausted looking Sara came through. Footsteps clanged on metal stair steps, and Yusuke jerked around to see Botan and Keiko running down the steps from the lab's control room. He also noticed that the cloning tubes, which had been lighted, and full of bubbles before, were now dark and still.  
  
"Yusuke!" Keiko tripped and fell against him.  
  
"Oof! You're heavy!" He must have been more tired than he'd thought, for the words slipped out before he could stop them. Why did he always say the dumbest things around her?  
  
Keiko didn't seem to mind, much. She just punched him in the arm, called him stupid, and said she was glad to see he was all right. Botan's eyes made a quick survey of the room, stopped uncertainly on Hiei for a minute, ascertained that he wasn't badly hurt, then looped her shoulder under Kuwabara's arm and hauled the wounded boy to his feet.  
  
"Come on, Kuwabara," She said. "Let's get you out of here." Botan began dragging the complaining Kuwabara back toward the control room stairs. Keiko and Yusuke, bickering quietly, followed.  
  
Hiei lagged behind, then walked up to Sara, who was leaning against the lab door, and told her in demonish, "Not bad, for a human." Then Hiei pivoted, and followed the others.  
  
Kurama watched Sara react. Her expression tended to be blank most of the time, a remnant of the survival tactics she'd used as a battle slave to the sadistic Mist Master team, but a slow, surprised smile ghosted across her features, and he caught it.  
  
"So, what will you do now?" He asked her curiously.  
  
She looked at him, her eyes still blue shards like the sea on a still summer's day. "I don't know, really. I can't pretend to be Ashley Morris anymore. I was tired of wearing that stupid blonde wig and glasses anyhow."  
  
Kurama was taken aback at the mental image that conjured up.  
  
"I think perhaps I'll use my stock in Sen-dex to make some changes. It turns out I have enough to be a swing vote. I'd like to turn this company back into what my father worked for it to be. I'd like it to be the company he believed in."  
  
She gestured at the dead hybrids lying on the floor behind her. "The company is much more than just this. There are some really good people who work here, researchers who want to make a difference, and save lives. If only we could get rid of the few bad apples at the top..."  
  
Kurama looked at her searchingly. "I'm sure Koenma would help with that."  
  
"He would?"  
  
"People have been known to join the spirit world a bit sooner than expected." He saw the realization of what he was actually saying in her expression.  
  
"I should be shocked by that, or repulsed I suppose, but after today..." Sara glanced around the lab, to the monsters in the cloning tubes. She met his gaze squarely. "I'd be grateful for any help Koenma would like to give."  
  
Kurama nodded. "I'll see to it, then. And now, I suppose we'd better get Kuwabara and the others back to the hotel."  
  
"Oh no." Sara shoved herself off the door, and touched his sleeve as he turned to go, so he turned back to look at her.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"I don't want you to...I mean." Sara took a deep breath and began again. "My stepfather left me a huge house with lots of guest rooms. When I came back, I re-hired the housekeeper and her husband and told them to tell everyone I was an invalid. They've been covering for me while I lived in town and pretended to be Ashley Morris. There's plenty of room for all of you to come stay with me."  
  
Kurama hesitated.  
  
She saw it, and dropped her hand from his sleeve. "Unless you have other plans, I completely understand." She ducked her head, exactly the way she used to when she stayed with him in Japan, and stared at the floor.  
  
He reached out and took her hand in his, holding it gently. It caused her to look up at him in surprise, as he'd guessed she would. "We would be happy to accept your invitation, if you can stand to have Hiei and Kuwabara in the same house. They are not exactly the most amicable of houseguests. That is the only reason why I hesitated to accept your invitation."  
  
Sara's mouth creased in a tiny smile. Just that little shift in facial muscles, and her whole face lighted in a way that made her beautiful. "I have a confession to make. I don't speak Japanese at all, but I did pick up enough to figure out that those two were insulting each other all the time. I think it's kind of ...funny." She shrugged helplessly, swallowing laughter.  
  
Kurama smiled back. Amusement was something Hiei would never tolerate, but still, it might be nice to be around someone who could share his humorous appreciation of Hiei and Kuwabara's unremitting battle of wills.  
  
"Then, if you're sure. We should go and inform the others." He held out an arm, politely gesturing for her to go first. He might have imagined it, but he thought she clung a moment to his hand when he released hers.  
  
Eyes still warm with their shared amusement, she turned and started toward the staircase.  
  
It would be, he reflected, allowing the fascinating human girl to precede him, an interesting vacation. He looked forward to discovering the girl behind the Wind Slasher guise, and to making Sara smile again.  
  
THE END Really. No more story. It's done. No more episodes. No sequels. Over. Team Urameshi came, saw, conquered, and are now on vacation. 


End file.
